What You Will
by Stanleylouis
Summary: AU NaruSasuNaru. In order to escape from his past life, Sasuke has taken up the position of assistant under a certain loud-mouthed blond, with some amusing conditions. While acting as a mediator for his boss and the man's "one true love", Sasuke finds himself falling in love instead, much to his dislike. A love-triangle based off of Twelfth Night.
1. Prologue

**A/N: **

**Hi everyone! Stanleylouis here.**

**This is my first ever NaruSasu/SasuNaru (haven't decided yet). Please, if there's anything that I can improve on, tell me. :) I've rated this T for right now, just because I'm too embarrassed to write smut. However, if the story ever presents itself to need such events, I will call in an expert. XD**

**The story, as the summary states, is **_**loosely **_**based off of Twelfth Night. Any other comments about the story itself are going to be at the end of the chapter, so you can read the chapter first and see what you think! **

**Warning- AU, YAOI. Don't like, don't read. **

**Disclaimer- I don't own Naruto (duh). I guess I own any made-up characters in here, but eh… you can have them if you want.**

**Anyways, enjoy!**

**Prologue**

The train station crowds were as chaotic as on any other day. The tumultuous packs drove about like so many waves in the ocean, with each individual face lost in the ruckus. Here, a weathered old man clinging gingerly to a sorrier briefcase; next to him, a family of three bundled about with anxiety-dampened eyes and piles of luggage. Each face was dragged under in the endless waves of travelers.

Above the hubbub and general disorder of the station, there arose a general commotion near the doors of Train 23. A boy, barely seventeen, was yelling out a girl's name. Shockingly black hair, spiked and glossy with natural sheen, protruded from the crowd, fighting vainly against the torrent of departing passengers.

"Hanae!" He was screaming the name now, and those beside him turned to stare; he gave no indication that he realized he was causing a disturbance. "Hanae!"

From the never-ending slough of people, a hand shot out, soon followed by the emergence of the face of a young woman. Fear etched itself in the lines of her young, beautiful face, and the black hair that billowed about her anxious form held consonance with the young man before her. Powerfully moving against the stream, the man reached out to close the girl's hand in his own, securing her slim fingers in his own.

"Don't let go!" The man yelled, but already, the strength of the stream was pulling apart their tightly-knotted fingers. "Hanae, I won't let you go!"

"Sasuke!" The girl's voice was lost in the commotion of the train station, as several shrouded forms surrounded the girl in powerful unison. The last words the man heard from her was a shriek; the forms had taken a hold of her shoulders, pulling her into their grasp while wrenching their linked fingers free.

"No!" The boy tried to shove his way forward, but the people around him were impatient, and in a hurry. With a final yell, he lost sight of her, carried away by the buffeting crowd.

As the floods of people from the resting trains dispersed, a rejected form leaned against a pillar of the station. He had finally washed up from the agitated confluence, shoved in his despair against the solid support without defense. One of his hands steadied himself against the column, while the other sifted through the raven hair falling into his downcast eyes. Out of sight and caring of any other person, the boy let a silent tear streak his cheek, before brushing it away brusquely. He knew it was too late, even as he lifted his gaze to search the crowds for her seraphic form. _I lost her… _He shook his head to keep the tears from flowing. _I lost her._

The events of the last several hours threatened to overwhelm him, and he thanked the pillar behind him for support. Even the grimy train-station column gave an ounce of backing to his flaccid form, in this hour of darkness. An image of bloodstained walls, his parent's faces, streaked with drying blood, and a form in the shadows…

It was too much to bear. Slowly, feeling his shirt ride up against the pillar, he slipped to the ground, catching his head in his hands. He was a young seventeen, already graduated from college with outstanding marks and a favorable future in his family's company ahead. His sharp, aristocratic features, so alike to his twin sisters', often allowed others to mistake him as ten years older than his own age. Now, however, slumping as he was with his head in his hands, he looked every bit the teenager that he tried so hard to cover up.

_Why didn't they take me, instead? _He moaned to himself, bringing up an image of his sister, Hanae. The look on her face, when she was being dragged away by the men… _You should have taken me. Kill me, Itachi. Not Hanae, never Hanae._

The crowds of people had been dissipated for some time, and the next train load, to the boy's estimation, would be arriving soon, when he felt a light tap on his shoulder. Twisting up to angrily glare at the intruder through blurred eyes, the image before him failed to make much sense to him for a few moments. The man who was peering down at him had a shock of silver hair sprouting up at an odd angle, with questioning black eyes and a mask covering the lower part of his face. _A mask? _As quickly as he could, the teenager shifted away from the man, eyes darting around for a way to escape.

"Hey, there." The man's voice was soft, with a light drawl. "I'm not going to hurt you. Do you need help?"

The young man frowned, peering up into the older man's eyes. They were friendly, but he knew that he couldn't trust them. He couldn't trust anyone now. Quickly getting to his feet, he brushed himself off, averting his eyes from the man's searching gaze. "No, thank you."

"Are you sure? You're a kid. What are you doing on your own?" The teenager bristled at his words, turning to glare at the masked man. At the angry glance, the man held up his hands, his face infuriatingly scrunching into a smile, from what could seen.

"Hey, hey. I call them as I see them. Now," and here he peered deeply into the teenager's face, "why are you hanging out in an empty train station?"

Shifting his gaze away from the older mans', the boy bit his lip, wondering the same question himself. Why had they let him get away? And… what was he going to do now?

"Please." He turned again, to see that the man was holding out a friendly hand. "My name is Hatake Kakashi. And yours?"

Gingerly, the teenager took it. "Sasuke." He surprised himself by actually giving away his name, but he couldn't help it; the catastrophic events, still swimming through his mind, made him dizzy, and made him lose all prudence that he usually held so purposefully. Feeling a wave of painful exhaustion wash through his body, crashing through the dam of adrenaline that had been coursing through his system moments before, made him swoon, and blink against the overwhelming feeling.

The man had been looking at him with an interested stare, but at the young man's collapsed form, he skirted forward, catching the boy in his arms. "Oh- Hey, just take it easy." If he hadn't been half out of consciousness, Sasuke knew he'd have flinched at the close contact. As it were, he could only try to right himself, feeling a light blush tint his cheeks.

"Okay, you definitely need some rest." The older man, Kakashi, looked the teenager over with worried eyes, as he tried to stand steadily against the train station column. After some moment's pause, he spoke again. "Come home with me. I have a guest room."

Sasuke looked up to the man again, suspicion and fear working itself into a chilling glare. "No, thanks." He turned quickly, blocking out the nausea of movement as he began to amble away.

"No, wait!" He felt a hand on his shoulder again, and he turned sharply, swinging a clenched fist. The older man dodged it easily, but let go of his shoulder. "You aren't feeling well. You need to rest."

"Yeah?" Sasuke spat, backing away. "And you think I'll give myself up to a stranger for it?"

"That's not my intention. I only aim to help." The man outspread his hands again, in the same defensive manner. "I can see you need somewhere to stay. You can take it or leave it, but I think you should accept my offer. You can't stay long in an unfamiliar city with nothing." The man looked pointedly to where Sasuke had been sitting; the absence of bags must have tipped him off to the teenager's desperate state.

After a moment's hesitation, Sasuke dropped his defensive stance, staring hard at the stranger. Finally, he took a step towards the silver-haired man, who smiled at his approach.

"There. Not so difficult, was it? I have a car around the side here." Turning around, the man started up a brisk walk, not looking back to see the solemn teenager following behind him.

**A/N: Sasuke's such an awesome brother, ne? Corny, maybe, but awesome.**

**Anyways. So, I warn you: my updates are sporadic, I'm sorry. D: However, I do have the first few chapters already typed out, so that's a plus!**

**I've never actually thought of having a beta before… I'm wondering if now is the time to try. I'm not really sure about my writing with what people are looking for, to be honest, so maybe it's time to get an editor's opinion. If you're interested, and think you can bring something to the table, drop me a message! I'd be new at it, though, so please excuse any clumsiness in the process. :D**

**Oh! So, I adore Twelfth Night, and I'll be sticking to the main outline as much as possible. However, for the story's sake, there will be alterations, and for those who have read the play, please don't get miffed if I change any of your favorite parts! I only try my best. ^.^**

**Meh, my author notes are too long. Hope you enjoyed!**


	2. Chapter I

**Hey again! So, I'm still looking out for a beta! If you're interested, message me! Thanks!**

**Warning- AU, YAOI. Don't like, don't read. **

**Disclaimer- Don't own Naruto.**

**Chapter I**

The silence of a dim living room was shattered by the opening of the front door. Quickly and abruptly, the light switch was flicked on, and Kakashi strolled into the room. As he walked across the carpeted floor, throwing his keys in a bowl by the door and tunelessly whistling to himself, another man cautiously walked through the doorway, suspiciously taking in the room with sharpened eyes.

On the car ride to the man's house, Sasuke had grown more and more alarmed at his decision. It wasn't Kakashi's appearance, per se- it was only the reality of being in a stranger's car, a stranger who held Sasuke's very life in his hands. He could do anything to Sasuke, and no one would ever know, or care.

_I forfeited that right when I left, _he thought to himself solemnly, closing his eyes. _But there wasn't much I could do… Under the circumstances._

As he got out of the car, Sasuke had entertained the idea of simply making a run for it while the man's back was turned. However, he knew that he would have no where to go. This was an unknown city, and he had no reference of where to go or what to do. Somehow, with Hanae beside him, he had been able to be strong, for her sake. But now the reality swept over him, and he knew the only way he could find some kind of life in this new environment was to take the stranger's- Kakashi's- kindness.

The idea of rewriting a life for himself was extremely daunting. After what he was before… He pushed the idea from his mind. Soon, if all went well, he would have the time to think of such things. Now, however, it was best to focus on the present.

"So." Kakashi turned around to face his visitor, his one revealed eye closed in a gentle, happy visage. "This is my humble abode. Please make yourself comfortable. Would you like some tea?"

"Thank you." Sasuke looked around the small room, still worried for his circumstances. As Kakashi puttered in the kitchen, Sasuke wandered around the room, observing and taking note of everything in it. The apartment looked vaguely small, and he wondered if Kakashi lived with anyone. Probably not; he didn't look like the type, from what he had observed. The living room, in which he was standing, was plain, with beige walls and few articles of furniture. The paintings, although tasteful, revealed little about the man's character. After some moments, Sasuke gingerly sat down on the couch, continuing to worriedly stare at the walls.

"Here we are." Kakashi walked back into the room, carrying two mugs of bitter-smelling tea. He set one in front of Sasuke, before taking his own and leaning back in the winged chair directly across from the teenager. Unsure whether he should drink, the raven-haired man gingerly picked it up in his hands, smelling the wafting aroma.

"Don't worry, I didn't poison it." Surprised, Sasuke turned to Kakashi, to see that he was smiling again. Were his suspicions so obvious?

"And even if I did, what would you be able to do about it?" Still that infuriating smile. Sasuke's eyes narrowed.

"I need to go." The man certainly had a dangerous air about him. Even if it might not have been directed at him, the guy's words scared him, as much as he hated to admit it. Sasuke stood up, warily glaring at the man who was still comfortably sitting in the chair before him.

"I'm not keeping you here." He waved his hand in an offhanded manner towards the door. "I am, however, telling you that you probably won't find someone else in this place who is willing to help you. It's a harsh city." His eyes sharpened. "You're likely to wander the streets for a week or two before dying. You don't look like the type who knows his way around a place."

Sasuke stiffened, trying to hide the fear that was blooming in his heart. With all of his intelligence, he could definitely say that he did not have what people called 'street smarts'. Living in the wealthy family that he did… that he used to live in. Again, he closed his eyes against the thoughts and, with a slight pause, walked back to the couch.

"Good. So, Sasuke. Care to tell me why you were all alone at a train station?" Sasuke continued to glare at the man's exceedingly annoying smile.

"No."

"Hey now. I just told you, I'm trying to help you. At least tell me something about yourself."

"No."

Kakashi stared intently at the teenager, calmly sipping his tea. After several moments, he suddenly stood up, catching Sasuke off guard.

"Well then, Sasuke, I don't think I can get much out of you tonight. I could just kick you out of my apartment, but like I said, it doesn't really look like you know where you'd go, anyway." He stepped around his chair, turning back to Sasuke. "Well, come on, then. I'll show you your room."

Unable to think of a better solution, Sasuke complied.

The living room branched out into a small hallway, cramped in its size but not overly so. Compared to the places Sasuke was used to, it seemed tiny. But he was an Uchiha- he knew how to adapt. And he would. Somehow.

After passing two closed doors that Kakashi labeled as the coat closet and his private study, he opened the third, revealing a neatly kept bathroom. Everything was a nice, sterile white, except for the pale blue rimming around the mirror, tables, and shower curtain. It had a soft, unused quality to it.

"Here's your bathroom." Sasuke was surprised at the labeling of it as _his_. "Right through here-" he pointed to a door, which he strode across the room to open- "is your bedroom."

Continuing to cautiously follow the man, Sasuke entered the room, sweeping his gaze around at the setup. Again, the same air of disuse hung like mist on the furniture and décor. It was a simple layout: two dressers, lacking in any personalization of any sort; a neutrally-white bed, with made sheets of the same light blue color as in the bathroom; a bedside table, above which a hanging touch light was perched; and, overlooking the sprawling city beneath, shattering the image of a suburban home, were two windows, each large and boxlike.

At the interior of the room, Sasuke raised a questioning eyebrow. "Does someone live here? Or do you just have this set up for if you ever pick up anyone at the train station?" Kakashi laughed, softly. At least, Sasuke thought he laughed. It was hard to see the expression of his face with the masking covering it.

"Yes, I do live alone. I keep this room up for guests, although to rest your worries, I have had no intention of picking up a lost boy at the train station before now." He glanced over at Sasuke's confused face, and smiled. "You looked pretty helpless there. However odd it sounds, I knew that I couldn't just leave you."

Sasuke had prickled at the term _helpless_, but at the man's following words, he looked up, surprised and puzzled. _He… He felt sorry for me? Was that why he brought me here? I… _He closed off the expressions manifesting across his face, trying not to appear moved. _I didn't think there were people who would do that._

When he looked back up to Kakashi, the man was analyzing his features again, and immediately the teenager felt a pale blush sweep across his features. However, the man didn't pry into the subject.

"It's getting late, and it appears you've had a rough day. Do you want to turn in now?" Sasuke looked at the gold watch on his wrist, surprised to see that it was nearing on nine o'clock. How had he lost track of time so fully? Blankly, he nodded.

"Well…" Kakashi looked pointedly at the empty air beside Sasuke. "It doesn't look like you came with anything. I might have something that can fit you. How old are you, anyways?"

Sasuke thought about lying, but decided against it. "Seventeen." Kakashi nodded in response, a hint of a smile lightening his features.

"You know, at first I thought you were older, maybe twenty-one or so. It's that angry expression you have on your face." He laughed at the glare directed at him. "But when I actually looked at you…" His smile slowly seeped out of his features, and Sasuke unexpectedly felt a lump form in the back of his throat. "You look like you're hiding too much."

Sasuke didn't know what to say, but even if he did, he couldn't have spoken the words, since his mouth felt like it had been wiped dry with cotton. He distractedly looked out the windows, where the dark was stopped in its permeation of the city by the blazing lights. The noise of traffic washed uneasily over his nerves, and he had trouble regaining his voice.

"A-anyways. Thank you for your consideration." He hated himself for the slight tremor in his voice. When he chanced a glance in Kakashi's direction, he was confused to see a look of soft concern at his statement. "What?" He said, a little defensively.

"Nothing." The man turned away, walking towards the closed door across from his own "I'll get you those clothes. You can get settled for right now."

As Kakashi left the room, closing the door behind him, Sasuke looked around at the bedroom again. _Get settled? How? _He had nothing to unpack, as he would have set about doing as soon as he arrived at whichever spot he had been dragged off to this time. He smiled faintly to himself, remembering their last family vacation to Maui. Hanae had gotten a huge sunburn on her nose, and he hadn't heard the last of it until months after. At the memory of his sister, however, he felt a sudden pain in his heart. _Hanae… Did he get you? Or did you escape?_

Sitting down on the neatly made bed, Sasuke let himself relax from the position he had been holding this entire time. Slowly, slowly, emotions began to seep out through the levy that he had created to prevent such occurrences. He knew that there was still a lot he had to sort out before he could fall completely into a recuperation process. He had the overwhelming urge to sleep and never wake up again. But he had to stay up for a little while, until Kakashi returned with the clothes.

Instead of venturing into the unforgiving contemplations of his future, he wondered about the man's, Kakashi's, motives. He said that he did it because he felt bad for Sasuke, slumped there as he was. The thought of himself, Uchiha Sasuke, lying against a dirty train station pillar made him grit his teeth in distaste. But the situation that he was facing was now completely out of his hands. This pure fact was the most terrifying of all: all of his life, Sasuke had known what lay before him, and if a problem arose, the answer was always efficiently given. Now he was in a world of confusion, without any railings to hold onto.

He was pulled out of his musings by Kakashi's return. He was smiling again, which Sasuke had become wary of. However, the clothes that he handed the teenager were normal and neutral: a navy t-shirt, checkered pajama bottoms, boxers, a toothbrush enclosed in plastic, and a white, fluffy towel.

"I thought you might want to take a shower before you went to sleep." Sasuke looked up to him, giving him a silent look of gratitude. He had thought that sleep was his main priority, but now he couldn't stop thinking about how dirty he felt from travelling.

"So, I'll leave you alone for that. If you need anything, I'm right across the hall." He gave a small wave, smiling again. "Goodnight, Sasuke."

"Goodnight," he murmured, slowly getting to his feet and shuffling to the bathroom door. Falling asleep in the shower was definitely a possibility, if not a particularly pleasant one.

* * *

**Reviews are lovely. Thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter II

**So, a little change of setting here… **

**Disclaimer: It is more likely that I have been hit on the head with a coconut WHILE getting bitten by a shark than that I own Naruto. I'm guessing on these statistics here, but I'm almost positive that they're correct.**

**Chapter II**

Outside of a business building, a man leaned up against the rough brick, dragging on a cigarette. His face was lined, but his eyes gave away his internal youth. Even with the long white hair that draped in a shaggy ponytail against his back, the man held a certain vigorous power to him, in his firm build and strong movements. Taking another drag at the cigarette in his hand, he thoughtfully blew out the smoke, eyes closed.

The cigarette was forcefully removed from his fingers, and he glanced up, a look of annoyance adorning his features. Standing beside him, turned away and growling, was a beautiful, middle-aged woman, already tossing the stubbed-out cigarette in a nearby trashcan. Her long blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail against the nape of her neck, and even with the age and wisdom apparent in her every movement, she didn't look a day over thirty five. Turning back around, the woman gave him a peeved look, sighing dramatically.

"Jiraiya, don't make me hit you. You know I hate it when you smoke." She sighed, closing her eyes and leaning her head to the side. "Can't you do _anything _I ask you to?"

"What do you think I'm doing, woman?" He exploded, glaring back at her and mimicking a high pitched voice. "'Jiraiya, no drinking! Jiraiya, no lazing off, finish your manuscripts! Jiraiya, stop staring at my _boo- _hey!" His rant was cut short by a narrowly-missed fist. The woman's face now held the addition of a throbbing vein, marring her otherwise beautiful features.

"It's not as if you have anything to brag about in the responsibility department, Tsunade!" Jiraiya huffed, crossing his arms. The woman simply turned and opened the building door, motioning inside.

"Come on. You have work to do. You _can_ walk and talk at the same time, right?" She smiled snidely, as he growled and passed by her into the building.

"So, why were you out there, anyway?" Tsunade bent her head, questioningly looking into Jiraiya's face. Her own had grown softer once coming inside. "I thought you were nearing the end in one of your manuscripts?"

"I am," Jiraiya stated bluntly. "I just… Can't get the last few chapters. Somehow, it's not coming to me."

"How hard could it be to finish the thing?" Tsunade laughed. "It's a trivial sex book! Surely…!" She quickly stopped, watching her friend bristle in self-defensiveness.

"For your information, Tsunade, my books are works of art. Hear that? _Works _of _art_." He sniffed. "Says all of my fans."

"Poor, sex-starved people…" She chuckled again as Jiraiya looked around for something to throw at her. Luckily, this was one of the corridors that, while nicely papered and carpeted, held no furniture to place decorations or vases on. Water down her front was not exactly the look she was going for today.

"I'll have you know, Tsunade, that my books are some of the best-selling from this publishing firm. So really, you'd probably be out of a job if it weren't for me." He smiled triumphantly, glaring as she flicked him on the nose.

"Yeah, and who you think'd keep you in line to finish your silly books, huh?" She couldn't help but smile, though, and rubbed him on the shoulder. It was true: Jiraiya's Icha Icha series was one of the top sellers at Hyuuga Publishing. Hell if she knew why; it all seemed like a bunch of sappy, sexy romance novels with no plot. Sometimes she wondered if Jiraiya even knew what the word _love _meant.

Opening a door, they entered back into the main stream of the office. Tsunade briskly walked over to her secretary desk, with Jiraiya trailing behind her like a lost puppy. Around her, the buzz and business of the publishing house created a soothing ambiance, and she sighed quietly as she leaned back into her chair.

The wall behind her head separated herself from the big man himself, Hyuuga Neji. Always the workaholic, Tsunade rarely saw him leave the office except for at the end of the day, and only then if she worked late. However, because of her position as his secretary, she had gotten to know him better than most. She knew there was more than met the eye with him.

Unsure of exactly what to do, and reluctant to return to the office that the company had given him for working "seriously" on his manuscripts (a.k.a., when a deadline was coming up and they refused to let him laze around at his apartment), Jiraiya simply leaned up against Tsunade's desk, moodily sifting through the mail littered across its surface. The woman batted his hand away, but laughed, causing him to glance up in confusion.

"You know, you sure remind me of your nephew sometimes." Thinking of him now, Tsunade instinctively smiled, tender feelings of motherly love creeping into her chest. Over the years, she had grown to be an 'adoptive' mother to him, after…

She was roused out of her thoughts by Jiraiya's growling laugh. "What, that pipsqueak looking like me? Don't make me laugh!"

"Well, I didn't say he _looks _like you," she said snidely. "God knows he's much more handsome than you ever were."

Before he could insert a jibe, there was a soft, slightly pained cough near her desk. The two looked up to see a red-faced man in vibrant colors standing before them, holding two orange balloons in the shape of hearts in one hand and an order form in the other.

"Hello, is this Hyuuga Neji's office…?" The man looked like he wanted the earth to swallow him whole, to get out of the job before him. "I have a singing telegram for him. 'From your Doting Lover', it says." He read off of the order form, turning a deeper shade of red.

"Why, speak of the devil!" Jiraiya yelled, laughing. "Send him in, Tsunade!"

Smiling softly and rubbing a hand across her forehead, she waved the man in, trying to keep back a groan. _Not again…_

The man, still looking extremely uncomfortable, knocked on the boss's door. After a faint 'come in', he turned the handle and walked inside. There was a slight pause, and then Tsunade heard a faint sigh from inside.

"Don't say it."

"Sir, I've got a singing telegram for you. 'From your doting-' Hey! I'm just the messenger! DON'T shoot the mes-!"

By this time, Tsunade had buried her head in her hands, and Jiraiya was full-out laughing, drawing some stares. If anyone in the office hadn't noticed the commotion before, they were all staring by the time that the door swung open to reveal a now scared-looking man being propelled through the entryway by a handsome, long-haired man. The lush, creamy brown hair swung angrily in a ponytail against his back, while two piercing blue-white eyes glared daggers at the man before him, who was stuttering out syllables.

"H-hey! I-I'm j-just doing my j-job!" The poor man looked to be afraid for his life; Hyuuga Neji was simply fuming, his normally composed face scrunched up in barely contained anger. As Jiraiya let out another howl of laughter, the head editor turned sharply to glare at the pair, eyes burning with white flames.

"You two! Tsunade, I have _told _you, censor who comes through my door!" Neji spat, before turning to Jiraiya. "And _you! _Tell that _bloody _nephew of yours, Uzumaki Naruto, to _stop sending me love notes!_"

Quickly realizing that he had an audience, the young head editor swiftly composed himself, weaving an agitated hand through his chestnut strands of hair. Bestowing a final glare to Jiraiya and Tsunade in turn, he turned and strode back into his office, closing the door with a resounding click.

Tsunade, feeling some responsibility to the man, turned to the telegram messenger, who by this time was eyeing her sharp-tipped letter opener. "I'm sorry about that. You can tell whoever you need to that he accepted it." Lifting to her feet, she quickly beckoned the man to the building's elevator, being sure to keep him away from any sharp objects. Before disappearing out of sight, she gave a final, amused look to Jiraiya, who could still not completely stifle his laughter.

**Hope you enjoyed, and please review! **


	4. Chapter III

**Chapter III**

When Sasuke woke up, it almost felt like he hadn't left home. As one does, the gradual awakening from sleep kept his eyelids closed, brain activity at a minimum. For several minutes (or were they hours?) he only had to lie still, languid and serene.

After some moments, however, the powerful gears in his brain began to stir, and he groaned, trying to hold onto the last ounces of sleep. Somehow, he knew he didn't want to wake up. Maybe a test today, one he hadn't studied for…?

Slowly, he opened his eyes, staring senselessly at a blank, white wall. The bizarre high school test anxiety dissipated with the comprehension slowly seeping back to his brain. There was no test to study for. This was not his room at home, after all.

But somehow, this fact didn't send alarm rushing to his heart, as he thought it would. Instead, he blinked a couple of times, yawned, and groggily turned around, closing his eyes to the blank wall.

Sleep had not evaded him, after all. At least, not the drowsiness that overtook you as soon as you turned your alarm clock off in the mornings. All of those groggy dawns, waking up at 4:30 AM to get ready for his pre-morning classes… Deciding against dwelling on such occurrences, he sighed softly, feeling his muscles relax once more.

Even if he could still sleep, however, it did not mean that he could stop from thinking. His brain was the one that had woken up, and it was the one who was now alert and ready to go. So he thought, mused, brainstormed- whatever flowed through his mind in the uneasy estuary of dream-like murmurings, while staying as still as possible.

Although he couldn't remember who the man was, he knew that one had picked him up from somewhere and taken him- here. He couldn't remember where _here _was, but the bed was comfy. Underneath soft cotton, his skin was nice and clean; he faintly remembered the shower, and having to drag himself to the bed the night before. When was that? He couldn't remember. Sighing, he shifted deeper into the covers.

At the remembrance of high school, a barrage of memories sprouted up from wherever they had been hiding. It wasn't that high school had been painful, exactly, but that he found no use on dwelling on it. Maybe later in his life, when he was old and grouchy, he would look back and wonder why he had rushed through it all.

Somehow, through all of the extra classes they took together, Hanae, his sister, had been able to find enjoyment in the process, however. Sure, he somehow got a fan gathering in his three years of high school, but… It wasn't the same with Hanae. No, she had made actual friends; it came to her so _naturally. _The statement made him want to smile. They were Uchihas. How was she able to make friends at all, with their family history?

Thinking of his sister, Sasuke's musings began to dampen, as if being soaked in a dismal downpour. _Why… _But then he knew. Slowly, he opened his eyes again, the idea of sleeping no longer pleasant. Just as slowly, he turned over and gingerly placed his feet on the floor, grazing a hand through his bed-head hair. He was hungry. He weighed all of the advantages and disadvantages of such a venture for a moment, before deciding against taking the cautious approach and simply padding to the bedroom door. After opening it, he peered into the hallway and, seeing nothing, tiptoed out, slightly cold in the chill of an early April morning.

The man, Kakashi, was up, and drinking a cup of coffee by the kitchen counter. From this vantage point, he could see anyone coming out of the hallway directly across the living room, and so looked up and smiled at Sasuke's approach. The teenager felt like glaring at his happy face, but decided against it.

"Good morning, Sasuke!" The slight uplifting of his name made Sasuke's skin prickle.

"Morning." He couldn't help but yawn, still not fully awake. If he had been, he would have graced Kakashi's light chuckle with a seething glare.

"Please. I have coffee, or cereal." The gray-haired man gestured to an assortment of cereal boxes neatly laid out on the counter. Through the fog of sleep, Sasuke felt oddly touched at the thought. Nodding as thanks, he shuffled over to the counter, taking the offered bowl from Kakashi's hands.

"How did you sleep?"

"Well enough." It took him a moment to peruse the offered boxes, deciding to chance a cereal that appeared to be exploding with sugar. _What the hell, right? _Adding milk from the fridge, he settled down to the bar-like replacement for a kitchen table, taking a hesitant bite. Seeing as he hadn't allowed himself to enjoy sweet things for some time, realizing that indulgence was the quickest way to fatal mistakes, the burst of flavor on his tongue surprised him momentarily. As he took another bite, he was conscious of Kakashi watching him closely, although he didn't feel as unnerved about it as he had the night before. Somehow, through the restful night, his senses began to allow him to relax in this new environment, and take the older man's trust without question. Maybe his adaption skills _were _fined-tuned; however, he doubted it.

"So, since I've got you in this vulnerable mood-" Sasuke looked up sharply, but Kakashi's expression was joking. "I thought I would ask you about yourself. You know, since I gave you a bed for the night, free of charge?"

Sasuke was glaring at him, but he didn't feel the same suspicious hostility as the night before. Maybe it was just the sleep, but it seemed easier this morning to trust him. He knew he could just refuse to talk like he had last night, but the idea of confiding his life to someone was strangely tempting. Strange, because he had never done such a thing before in his life, save perhaps Hanae.

Still, where to begin? Sasuke moodily watched the puffs of cereal bob in his milk, swirling the liquid with his spoon. Kakashi seemed to pick up on the problem, and began by asking him a question.

"Do you have any siblings?" Simple enough question. Sasuke swallowed his reluctance. Opening up would help him. Somehow.

"Yes. A… Sister, and a brother." Why did it feel like he was pulling teeth?

"Hm. Are you close?"

"I…" _It's a simple question, damn it! _"Hanae…. Hanae's my twin sister, so yeah, you can say that we're close." He turned to the side, not sure of where to look.

"And your brother?"

"We… Well, I don't really know how to describe it, and now…" He bit his lip, closing his eyes.

"Okay, tough question. How about… Well, how about your last name?"

Here it was, the defining moment. "Uchiha."

Kakashi whistled. "Huh. You mean, you're one of _the _Uchiha twins? The geniuses who graduated college at seventeen? How do you do that, anyway-?"

"AP courses, mostly." Sasuke began swirling his spoon in his milk again. It was turning a strange purple color from the cereal. "I skipped two grades. Plus before-school classes, weekends, afterschool, summer, and online courses. I only had to take two years of college." The laundry-list was, for some reason, embarrassing to repeat.

"I see. So you're just a genius, huh?"

"Normal people don't use enough of their minds. I can learn anything in an instant, and commit it to memory. The extra workload only added more time of being in class to my schedule; I rarely need to study anything." He smiled softly, afraid of the emotion tugging at his vocal chords. What was happening to him, feeling these things? "It's not hard for me."

"But I doubt that you had much of a social life." Sasuke bristled. "I mean, with all of that schoolwork, how could you find a way to make friends? It's impossible."

"That's not true!" Sasuke's eyes widened, shocked that his voice had risen from the faint mumble it had been. Quickly, he lowered it once more. "I mean, I might not have, but Hanae was always the sociable type. She graduated at the same time as me, but she actually had friends she left behind in high school."

"Hm." Kakashi's eyes, never faltering in their inspection of Sasuke's face, dipped suddenly to the paper that had been lying in his hands. "Well, since it pertains to you, I thought you'd like to see the morning paper."

Sasuke had been expecting some kind of article about the events with his parents, but the image of his mother and father lying dead on their living room floor taking up most of a page in the newspaper was still shocking. It wasn't the first page, which Sasuke thanked to the far distance he had travelled from his home for. However, he couldn't have expected the violent murder of a president of one of the leading electric companies in the world to completely fizzle out. Numbly, he took the newspaper from Kakashi's hands, trying to read and take in the article.

Just below the picture of his parents, and beside a stiff family photo that the five of them had taken half a year ago, the article began.

_Late yesterday afternoon, the bodies of Uchiha Fugaku, head to Uchiha Electrics, and his wife Mikoto were found dead in their family mansion. Family friends were alerted of their deaths after entering the establishment some hours after the TOD, according to forensics. With no sure signs of the killer's identity, police deputy issues the statement: "I have all my available officers on this case. Whoever the killer to this heinous crime may be, we will find him." When asked if he had any suspects yet, he gave no reply, but an anonymous source at the scene implied that it might have something to do with the couple's eldest son, Uchiha Itachi. _

_The Uchiha family was a reserved but revered group, known for their incredible intellect and overall demeanor of cool confidence. Although not the most sociable as most at their status, the family was strong and reliable, and will be sorely missed._

_Fugaku and Mikoto's youngest offspring, the genius twins Sasuke and Hanae, have also gone missing along with their brother. Their connections to the crime is unknown, although it is speculated that they are both on the run, and most likely together. Authorities ask for anyone with information on the family to call the number listed at the bottom of the article …_

The article then went into the personal histories of each of the Uchiha family members, which Sasuke brusquely skipped over. Instead, he looked at the pictures again. Funny, how the scene in the living room, which he had witnessed not twenty-four hours prior, could look so different in black and white and on a newspaper's page, and yet hold the familiarity of his own home as well. There, against the corner of a frame, was a vase that his mother had bought at an antique store in Japan, two years ago. She loved the thing, for whatever reason; it rested on a beautifully plain mahogany table, just under the window where the sun came in at an angle in the afternoons. And there! The patch of carpet where Itachi had, in a moment of clumsiness, spilled a glass of red wine, barely visible in the black-and-white photograph. The large red stain in the middle of the picture outshadowed the smaller, however, and he doubted that anyone would ever notice the old next to the new.

A red film began to form in front of his eyes. He had heard of this before, in all of the stories he read, about those seeking revenge. This barrage of hatred. Now, though, in the house of a stranger, in the early hours of morning, he felt more alive than he ever had before. The fire burning in his chest was not new- god knows how many times the jealousy of his brother had sprung up within himself- but this _hatred_ was at such an intensity that he felt like it was burning him, scarring tissue, leaving a mass of blackened flesh in its wake.

"So." Kakashi's voice sounded muffled and far away. "Sensitive topic, but do you know who killed them?"

"Hanae and I came home after a weekend trip to New York, around midnight." Sasuke's eyes were fastened on one of Kakashi's paintings. "The house was dark. We walked into the living room to find our parents' corpses… _thrown _into a pile." He spit out the words, feeling blood from the bite he made inside his cheek. "As soon as we walked into the room, something sharp flew at us. I was just able to get Hanae out of the way." He didn't mention the long red slash along his shoulder, which he had been able to cover up until now. The blood had stopped flowing on the train ride, and he felt no reason to tell Kakashi he was injured now.

"We were scrambling around in shock. I looked up to see who it was, but I couldn't see in the dark. I could barely see Hanae in front of me. But then he stepped into the light, and…" He closed his eyes. "It was Itachi, with the coldest expression on his face, like ice…

"Instinct took over, I guess. I threw one of our vases at him, and I guess it hit him, because I was able to get myself and Hanae out of the house. I took our car to the train station, because I knew he could follow our license plate. I… I couldn't think straight, I…"

He took a deep breath, suddenly exhausted again, feeling hollow besides that burning feeling in his chest. He shivered slightly at the feeling of a hand on his shoulder, but when he looked up, he saw that that Kakashi was only leaning across the table, trying to reassure him. His eyes were serious but soft, and suddenly, Sasuke felt something lift from his chest with the confession, just like they always said it did.

"Hey. You did fine. You came out safe. You're alive."

"But I lost Hanae!" He was shocked speechless at the thin wail in his voice. He tried to regain his composure, but failed at returning to his solid stance. "I… I couldn't save her from him. I can only assume… that they were waiting for us at the train station. Some men. They took her. I don't know if she got away."

"She might have. We don't know anything." He smiled, gently. "This may be a bad town, but there _are_ people looking out for you guys. It's not like a crime movie. We'll catch him."

"We?" Sasuke looked up, confused. Kakashi shook his head.

"Slip of the tongue. Anyways, I can get you somewhere safe, the police can-"

"No!" Sasuke's retort was louder than necessary, but the thought of being brought in to the police was horrendous. "No, I need to be on my own. Itachi's smart, and has friends everywhere. I'd rather try to hide myself, for the time being." _And_, he thought to himself darkly, _my intentions with Itachi can hardly be labeled as legal. _Again, that starved fire in his chest.

Kakashi, apparently oblivious to Sasuke's inner thoughts, looked doubtfully into the teenager's face. "And how, pray tell, do you expect to make a life for yourself in these circumstances?"

"I'll find a job," Sasuke stated, feeling a light tinge of red spread across his cheeks from his blunt statement.

"Again, how do you intend to do that? You can't use any of your past history for mandatory background checks, warranting you don't want to give yourself up _that_ easily. Plus, your face is all over the news." He looked pointedly at the newspaper article.

Sasuke didn't know what to do. He felt that he needed to do this by himself, or with Kakashi's kind help. (He didn't even feel comfortable with this contact, but under the circumstances… it was kind of impossible not to take it.) But Kakashi's words were all true. Really, what was he thinking? It was impossible. This was the real world, not some Shakespearean farce where he could magically be integrated into society. Anyone hiring wanted a background history, one that he couldn't give. It was all hopeless.

When he looked back up to Kakashi, the older man had a thoughtful look on his face. Finally, he returned Sasuke's gaze, and smiled. "Actually, I think I might know someone who might hire you without any background. Friend of the family, and all that."

"Really?" Sasuke's eyebrows knotted together, imagining some shady alleyway job just like in the movies. He'd never held a gun before… or done anything, really, for that matter…

Kakashi seemed to get where Sasuke's thoughts were leading, and laughed, making Sasuke blush again. "No, no. It's nothing like that. It's a desk job. A secretary. He's been needing one for a while. Except…" Thinking about it seemed to make Kakashi laugh, as he could hardly keep a chuckle out of his voice. "Well, I'll ask him today, and if he's up for it, then I'll tell you the requirements later."

"Requirements?" Sasuke asked cautiously, worriedly biting his lip. Anything intellectual Sasuke could handle, but he doubted that that was what Kakashi meant…

"Right!" The gray-haired man stood up with a start, a masked smile still evident on his face. Reaching over the counter to put his empty coffee cup in the sink, he then picked up his coat and briefcase in the chair beside him. "I'm off to work. I should be home around six-thirty, if the traffic's not too bad. Have fun at home!" With a final wave, Kakashi exited the apartment, leaving a stumped Sasuke to try to figure out what the hell the man meant.

**Writing in current times certainly does have its disadvantages. For one thing, there are a lot more limitations to it, like not being able to, say, credibly insert a character into a random situation and expect everything to go on like normal. XD But there's where the fun comes in! Really, I hope you guys are enjoying it so far. Do you like the writing style? Is it moving too slowly? Next story is where the fun begins. Be warned: there will be many plot twists in the near future. :)**

**Also, I thought I'd have another little rant thing… **

**I would really love for this to be in Japan, but sadly, I live in the United States. And while I could research many of the items in this story for how it would be in another country, I confess that my research skills are limited, and I would just end up humiliating myself. The names will be Japanese, of course. So, while there is no set location for this story, I guess any times, seasons, holidays, or whatever will have to do with my own experiences. If you have any questions about anything, please ask. :)**


	5. Chapter IV

**Chapter IV**

Guys aren't really supposed to look like girls. Sasuke knew this. Certainly, there were times where there could be slight confusion, with a slim frame, feminine features, or the like. But when it came down to it, it was just anatomically _impossible. _Besides the obvious, males were most often sturdier, with broader chests and thicker limbs.

This was ridiculous.

I mean, really. How could this even _work?_ Sasuke turned on the spot, examining himself in the mirror against the bathroom door. If he didn't know better, he definitely would have thought that he was looking at a girl's ass, with the way the smooth dress pants were hugging it and all. And what was with this white business shirt, slick against his skin and demurely stretched across the offensive padded bra adorning his chest?

He had to cover his face with a hand for several minutes, breathing deeply. _Heels_, for god's sake! What demon in his right mind had ever created such a monstrosity?

But he could get over it. He knew he could. Why, men had been wearing heels for ages, from the ancient Egyptians to riding boots to court heels and beyond. There was no end to the history of the high heeled shoe. But never, in his entire life, had Sasuke imagined himself in a pair of black, stylish, three-inch pumps.

So why was he dressed as a girl? With all of his extreme intellect, Sasuke still hadn't been quite able to handle the idea behind the transformation.

_"Good news!" Sasuke had been shocked out of his absent channel-flipping by the abrupt opening of the front door. He didn't know how anyone had the patience to remain stagnant for so long. Sitting still with nothing to preoccupy his mind felt like he was going crazy. _

_ Sasuke turned around to see Kakashi standing boldfaced in the doorway. He looked just about the same as he had when he left ten hours ago, except that now he had a triumphant smile on his face and several bags in his hands. Sasuke didn't know if he should be worried or not about the smile, yet he couldn't help but lift up from the chair he was slouching in to greet the man._

_ "How was your day?" Sasuke didn't feel comfortable enough to use the man's name outside of his own head yet, but Kakashi didn't seem fazed by it. _

_ "Wonderful, thank you, Sasuke! But that's not important, because I have news!" If the mask wasn't covering it, Sasuke knew that Kakashi's face would have been pulled up into a huge smile. "I asked my contact, and he said that he's still accepting job applications. He's holding interviews two days from today. That gives us time to prepare."_

_ "Prepare for what?" Sasuke knew how to make a good impression; God knows how many classes he took on the topic. Somehow, however, he had the nagging feeling that that wasn't what Kakashi meant. His thoughts were confirmed by Kakashi's soft, almost embarrassed chuckle. _Oh no.

_"Well… This family-of-the-friend, he doesn't really give the position he's offering… to guys."_

_ "Kakashi." Sasuke had more than enough courage to say the man's name now. "That means I can't get the job."_

_ "And that's where you're wrong!" Kakashi looked just a little too happy at this statement. Sasuke, again, noticed the bags that Kakashi had placed on the kitchen counter. From the top of one of the bags, Sasuke could see something black and vaguely hairy poking out._

_ "Kakashi," Sasuke said, straining to keep his voice level, "is that a wig?"_

It _was_, in fact, a wig, and a well-made one at that. Kakashi must have had a lot of time on his hands to get such an object; rather than the usual kind that you got at a costume store, this one was heavy-duty, one to wear all of the time without slipping or noticeable seams.

_Heavy-duty. _Sasuke rubbed the bridge of his nose, feeling the premature wrinkles along his forehead. He sat down in the chair set up in front of the bathroom mirror.

Really, Sasuke wondered if Kakashi even went to work at all yesterday, with all of the stuff he had brought home. Maybe it was just his hobby, embarrassing the hell out of random people he picked up by changing their gender appearance. He doubted it, but it would explain how he knew so much on the topic.

Early the next morning, Sasuke had been woken by an all-too-cheerful Kakashi, followed by another man who put Kakashi's enthusiasm to shame. At that time in the morning, the bowl-cut haired, green jumpsuited man was too much for Sasuke. After blinking a few times, the teenager accounted the odd mirage before him to lack of sleep, and fell back on his pillows.

The men were not a bizarre dream, however. The new guy's name was Guy, and he ran a photography shop/salon in the upscale part of town. God knows how Kakashi had met him. Sasuke cared not to waste brain cells thinking about it. Instead, he put all of his energy into resisting the two men's efforts at dragging him out of bed.

"Gah- Kakashi! What are you-!"

"Hm, I see what you mean!" The new man's voice was hearty and much too jovial for this early in the morning, or at any time, for that matter. "He really does have the right bone structure for this kind of thing! Yes, I think we can turn him into quite a convincing girl."

"EXCUSE me?" Sasuke wouldn't say he screeched, because that didn't sound like a very manly thing to do. Although it certainly wasn't a soft retort. He hadn't really believed Kakashi when he told him his plans the night before, and simply went to bed, dreaming of his normal life, without a certain grinning silver-haired man. Now, however, Kakashi's scheme was becoming all too real.

Sasuke, dragged out by the two men, eventually made it to his adjoining bathroom in one piece. Dazed, he numbly stared at himself in the mirror, at his bed-head hair and sleepy expression. Behind him, the two men were shuffling through bags and bags of god-knows-what. Most had been brought by the green-jumpsuit man, Guy.

Good God, who was that awake that early in the morning.

"Wait…" He held up a hand, voice drawling softly from sleepiness. "I forget. Why are you doing this to me, again?"

"_Well_, Sasuke, it's quite simple. You need a job, but you probably won't get one looking the way you are (seeing as you are quite recognizable now), and with no job history. There's one guy who will hire you for a relatively pain-free job, but he's only hiring girls. Voila! They did teach you problem-solving skills in those fancy schools of yours, didn't they?"

Sasuke was becoming more and more aggravated as the sleep began to fall away from his brain. Angrily, he glared at the stranger.

"Don't worry! Guy is a friend of mine. I told him about you, but he can keep a secret. Right, Guy?"

"Right!" The bowl-headed man beamed.

_Dear Lord, _Sasuke thought.

Still, he wasn't letting Kakashi off that easily. He had a lot more questions he needed answered. "Okay, one. Even if I go along with your plan, do you really think I can convince an _entire office _that I'm a female? I mean, it's not just like I'll just be passing through, or anything. I'm going to have to work in front of everyone." The teenager's eyes were skeptical.

"Not to worry! Guy is the best makeup artist around." Sasuke's hair prickled at the word _makeup. _"I mean, it won't be just that. We've got a pretty realistic wig here, fits right with your hair color. And some female clothes-" Here, Guy, still beaming, held up a bag fit to burst, from which he pulled a blouse-pant ensemble.

Sasuke scrunched up his brow. "Do I even want to _know _how you got those clothes?"

The two men just ignored him. Guy began pushing around the clothes in the bag, searching for something else. "A-ha!" From within the recesses of the sack, he pulled a padded bra.

Sasuke took one look at it before leaping to his feet, sprinting to the bathroom door. Kakashi, darting forward, caught him around his midsection and held him up so his feet couldn't touch the floor.

"Hang on, now."

"I am _not_ touching that _thing_." Sasuke spat out the words, struggling against Kakashi's grip.

"Well, I guess you could be flat-chested, but I don't think it would have the same impression…"

_Oh please, someone, kill me now. I'm in hell._

Still struggling, Sasuke was pulled back to the chair in front of his mirror, held down by a startlingly-strong Kakashi. Once again, he was glaring back at his reflection.

"Really, Sasuke. I know it sounds impossible, but I can pull it off. Count in me!" Guy held out a thumbs-up gesture. Sasuke didn't have the heart to correct the expression.

"Okay, fine. Number two. What kind of employer is this?" Just thinking of the kind of guy who would specifically ask for only female secretaries (if, of course, there were actually guys looking for that kind of job...) made his skin crawl. _I mean, what if he put the moves on me, what then? He'd sure get a nasty surprise…_

Kakashi seemed to understand where his thoughts were going, and laughed, seeming to find it incredibly funny. "Oh, no. It's not like he's a creep or anything. He's actually really nice to women. No, he has… different reasons for not wanting male secretaries. If you get the job, maybe you'll get to know him well enough for him to tell you." He grinned. "Although you'll probably figure it out soon enough, I wouldn't wonder.

"Good!" Kakashi was now beaming just like Guy. "Any more questions?"

"Just one." Sasuke sighed softly, suddenly tired again. "Are you… sure that this is the only option?"

"With who you are? I imagine so."

So here he was, decked out in all of his feminine splendor. Just thinking of it made him want to throw something at the mirror. _This is a major hit to my masculinity, _he thought gloomily, glancing at his heels.

For his part, it had certainly taken a lot of time, effort, and products to make him resemble a female. Remembering the process made him shiver. The details were horrifying. All of that lotioning, plucking, _waxing_… He wondered if he would ever live it down, even if it was just him and the two insane asylum fugitives who knew about it.

The strange part was, when he looked in the mirror, he eerily resembled his twin sister to the extreme. They had always held some similarities; they couldn't go anywhere without people commenting about how much they looked alike. But now, when he looked into the mirror, he could actually believe that he was looking at his sister's face, which sent a dose of unnerve and sadness shooting to his heart. It wasn't just the eyes that they shared- dark obsidian, with the family tinge of red rimming their irises- but the way the newly-sculpted eyebrows (he shuddered) looked against his white skin, and how the wig's hair framed his face. The two madmen, as Sasuke had labeled them sometime around Hour Four of Project Feminize Sasuke, had decided to keep the wig fairly long, as Hanae's hair was cut at shoulder-length, usually curled, with a thick bang cockily sweeping across her left eye. Since they didn't want to make him look too much like her as well (ruining the point of the masquerade…) they instead gave him longer hair, halfway down the length of his arm, with bangs that kept on getting in his eyes. Guy loved the haircut, and kept on spurting out phrases like 'super chic' and 'love it!'. Sasuke simply sat and glared at his reflection. Guy ended up going a little overboard with his curler, and Sasuke now felt like his face was completely covered by lush, black curls. Sasuke knew he would never do anything at all to his hair, ever. He angrily swiped some of the locks behind his ears, but widened his eyes at how feminine the motion looked in the mirror.

_God, I look like such a girl._

Guy and Kakashi had just left to go get some more girl clothes. Sasuke could only imagine what they looked like- a pair of weird-ass guys wandering around in the woman's section of a department store. He smiled and chuckled, shaking his head. The wig swung heavily around his shoulders, and he paused, staring intently at the mirror. He remembered what Guy had told him before leaving.

"You have to convince people that you're a woman, remember." Guy smiled in the annoying way that he did. "My makeover will fully fool anyone if they glance at you, as long as you keep it up in good condition!" Guy had given Sasuke step-by-step instructions on how to make sure he kept up his feminine appearance. Sasuke still couldn't believe that they were going through with the insane idea.

"But, it will all be for naught if you don't know how to act like a woman." Guy frowned and put a hand on his hip. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, which then became lost in his new bangs.

"I'm not kidding here! Everything you're doing right now makes you look like a guy." Guy waved a hand despairingly at Sasuke, and the teenager looked down, confused. What? He was sitting down in a chair.

"What are you talking about?"

"The way you're leaning against the counter. Or situate yourself, with your legs apart like that. _Way _too masculine." Sasuke self-consciously shifted his position. Really, if he hadn't questioned Guy's sexuality before, he did now.

The bowl-headed man sighed dramatically. "Really, Sasuke. You just exude masculinity. Which is a good thing, if you're trying to look like a guy. BUT YOU'RE NOT!" Sasuke jumped as Guy slammed his hands on the bathroom counter. He leaned in closer to the teenager, making Sasuke lean as far away as possible.

"Do you understand?" Guy's voice had become deep, dangerous. Sasuke, eyes wide, nodded numbly.

"Good!" In a blink of an eye, Guy was up again, spinning a jangling key ring around his finger. "Kakashi and I are off to get you some more clothes. Don't do anything stupid." They left the bathroom, and Sasuke could hear them open and close the front door. He was still a little shocked from his encounter with Guy.

Now, about a half hour later, he was still thinking about what Guy had said. _Act like a woman. _Quietly, he got up and walked out of the bathroom, trying to step as lightly as possible in his heels.

This would be rather difficult.

**There we go. Liked it? Didn't like it? Leave me a review to tell me how you feel! ;) The interview is probably next chapter. WILL Sasuke be able to look like a girl by the next day? Find out NEXT TIME! :D**


	6. Chapter V

**A/N: Another chapter! Sorry about the wait. But (and this is **_**extremely **_**rare) I am actually about five chapters ahead of this chapter. I don't usually write ahead, but for this story, since there's so much going on (at least for me and my discombobulated mind :D) I need to keep these chapters off fanfiction so that I can change a bunch of stuff around. Anyways.**

**What was I saying?**

**Oh yeah. So, I have a lot of chapters, and I hope to keep it pretty constant from here on out. **

**It's kind of weird having both Japanese and English names. I don't really know how to deal with the situation… *sob* I'm sorry if it's weird. I tried to come up with a good name, I really did.**

**I've been forgetting to put these up here…**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Duhh.**

**Warnings: Not much. Sasuke in heels. Which, I guess, does belong under 'warnings'. XD Also, a general lack of Naruto, which is a crime, I know. But you'll see him in the next chapter!**

**Chapter V**

Sasuke glumly looked up at the building before him. He had just ridden the subway for the first time and refused to ride it ever again, knowing full well that he would have to- if he got the job. It was fortunate that he had left two hours early, what with all of the problems of finding his correct stop.

So here he was, staring up at the imposing building of Uzumaki Investment Banking. He had finally been given the name of the company he was applying for after Kakashi and Guy had returned from their shopping trip. Thinking of what they had gotten, however, made Sasuke fume internally, glaring at nothing in particular. Really, had they expected anything other than a beat over the head with a stick at their thong jest? Once he had more time on his hands, and if he got the job and began to get his own money, he promised that he would get more clothes for himself. Ones less feminine, for one thing.

Today, he was dressed in black and white, with a pinstriped jacket over a white blouse and pants. He had never really noticed it before, but even a woman's business suit was completely different than a man's. It was tight in all of the wrong places, for one thing. He shifted uncomfortably, glancing around at the other people milling around on the busy sidewalks, while nervously tucking a stray strand that had escaped from his ponytail behind his ear.

The look he was going for was about twenty-one and fresh out of college, where no strange questions would be asked about his general lack of knowledge in the workplace. After all, in the real world, he _would _be in the situation of a twenty-one-year-old, seeing as his college education was completed already. He already fooled people with his age as a guy; fooling people as a woman should be no different.

He had practiced for many long, tedious hours the night before, and all of it had been on transforming his image into a girl's. The feat was more than he had ever imagined. He finally got walking in heels down by the time Kakashi and Guy returned, some four hours later. The skill, if not quite perfected, was at least learned. He felt confident at least that he could pass as a female while walking around the city, and he had gotten enough confirmation from the wolf-whistling males on the subway system, whom he had promptly given the middle finger to.

The voice was yet another challenge, along with walking and mannerisms. Sasuke's voice, while not a soprano, could at least pass in normal conversations as a female's without too much adjustment. He knew that it would have to be perfected, however, for when he was under scrutiny. In, say, an interview. So he had practiced in front of Kakashi who, with all of his other strange talents, appeared to be an expert in voice, giving him tips on how to speak. He ended up being rather helpful, picking out the needed changes for perfect results. Again, while not completely mastered, the skill was there. He could pass.

Finally, there was simply the way to act: the way to gesture, the way to tilt your head, the way to cross your legs. Sasuke didn't like to think of himself as being a particularly realistic girl, but he knew that he could do it. Everything was just memorization, really, something he was good at doing. He could do it. It would be fine. He wouldn't be caught.

_So stop glaring nervously at the building and actually walk in. _Sasuke swallowed hard. Finally, he lifted one foot after the other, stiff-leggedly entering the building.

* * *

Yesterday, once Kakashi had told him what business he would be applying for, Sasuke did some research on the bank. _Uzumaki Investment Banking. _The company sounded large enough that he had heard of it and its president in his past life, but not large enough for him to look further into it as a financial enemy.

The sites he found gave him a main overview of the company, its progress, aspirations, etc. He wouldn't have felt to go any deeper than this vague summary if Kakashi hadn't told him who he would be working for.

"So, what part of the business will I be located in?" Sasuke imagined some secretary job in the bottom section of the corporation, working for some lowly banker in a job that, while not particularly glamorous, would give him the privacy that he craved.

Kakashi gave him a strange look. "The top," he said, as if it was obvious. Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"What, I'll be working for some head of a department?" Dreams of a boring, non-pervasive job started to fall away. Again, the strange look.

"No. For Uzumaki Naruto." All of Sasuke's dreams shattered. If he had been drinking anything, he would have done a spit take.

"WHAT?" Sasuke couldn't believe Kakashi and his mildly amused face. "What do you mean, working for- for the head of the company?"

"Just that. Really, Sasuke, what did you think I meant?"

"I thought- I thought-" For once, the great Uchiha Sasuke was lost for words. "I thought that you just meant some boring day job in a bank!"

"Well, I didn't. I'm a friend of Naruto's, a mentor you can say. He knows me from way back when. We keep in touch. He told me he was looking for a new secretary after the old one left for Cancun, so that's where I drew the job opportunity."

But Sasuke wasn't listening. He was still trying to get over the shock. _The head of the company_… Granted, he had been the heir to a the president of a company as well, but still. Under these circumstances? "Hey, Kakashi, I don't think… that this'll work out…"

"Why won't it? Naruto's a fun guy. You'll like him." Kakashi got a funny image in his head, which he laughed at. "Who knows? It might work out."

"It _might _work out?" Sasuke was worriedly chewing at his lower lip, imagining all of the different ways that this could turn out horribly, horribly wrong.

"Relax! Really, Naruto is a down-to-earth kind of guy. Not like other pompous heads of companies." Kakashi gave the teenager a sideways glance. "No offense."

"None taken," Sasuke said, glaring at the man. He sighed, resigned to the insanity that made up Kakashi's logic. First he tells him to stay on the down-low, even dressing as a girl. Now he tells him to go work as a secretary to the head of one of the largest banks in the world?

So this led Sasuke to research further into the company, seeing as he would be working for its HEAD. The information was interesting, to say the least. Not the vague overview, of course: currently twenty-one, inherited the job from his rich, powerful daddy (after his father's death he had changed the name), went to some fancy colleges, etc. But what really caught Sasuke's interest was that it stopped there. The first site that he went to was the company's own, and there was a nice little bio about the current head, one that was incidentally missing a picture. As well as this, it lacked any kind of mention of the father other than that he was the founder of the company. Usually, a company's site would try to boost any information they could about the founder, blabbering on about how he had ascended to his distinguished height through strength and intelligence, etc. But there was nothing.

Curious, Sasuke clicked on another site, quickly scanning the paragraphs to find some reference. There were none.

_Strange… _

He switched back to the head's bio. It was short, extremely so. Even for summarizing standards it was lacking. The author of the paragraph had boosted it with large words and elaboration on his colleges and education, but there was nothing on his childhood or family life at all, which was surprising.

Stumped, Sasuke leaned back in Kakashi's computer chair, one that the older man had leniently let him borrow. He had already come to the conclusion that there was something up; even though the bio would seem perfectly normal to most, the lacking information made him wonder if there was something that the family was hiding.

_Or maybe you're just being paranoid. _He rubbed a hand across his forehead wearily, suddenly feeling extremely tired. It had been a long day, and he needed sleep. Quickly shutting down the computer, Sasuke got to his feet, longing for a long night's rest. But, seeing as he had to get up at five the next morning to get ready, he doubted it.

* * *

The entryway to the main office looked like any other: large, rather bleak, with a couple of potted plants in the expansive area's corners and some wall length paintings, but mostly decked out in business-man gray. Sasuke knew his father's main office like the back of his hand; he had to memorize the layout once, and over the years trekked through every last one of its hallways and rooms. The abrupt introduction to a new building, however, left him feeling a bit alarmed. Swallowing at the thick lump in his throat, Sasuke walked toward the main desk, where a hard-faced young woman was working several machines while chattering into an earpiece.

After a couple of moments, the woman turned to Sasuke, a hardened smile on her face. "Hi, can I help you?" Sasuke felt rather lucky at the smile and kind response. The secretaries in his father's businesses just about ripped anyone's face off whenever they were at their desks.

Sasuke cleared his throat, taking a deep breath. _Here goes nothing. _"Yes, I'm applying for the opening as Uzumaki's secretary?" His voice was breathy, but as a whole, quite feminine sounding. The secretary showed no sign of suspicion, and instead pushed a sign-in sheet towards him, picking up another sheet of paper from her desk.

"Sign in here, please. Here's the application. Someone will be out to get you shortly. They'll lead you to your designated area." Sasuke swallowed again, refusing to let his hand shake as he picked up the pen.

Sasuke signed his name Satou Suki. Then, he took the offered form, turned around, and found a seat by one of the potted plants.

Sitting as a girl was definitely something he needed to get used to. For one thing, they always seemed to cross their legs. Sasuke crossed his own, feeling incredibly uncomfortable.

While waiting, Sasuke took the time to look around at the other people in the waiting area. There were a couple of men waiting around, as it _was_ the main waiting area, but most of them were female. Every last one of them was attractive, as well, with long legs and made-up faces. He could guess that most of them were applying for the job. Sasuke began to feel a little sick. If this was the standard for getting the job, then what kind of guy was this Uzumaki Naruto character?

And how could he even match up?

Also, who doesn't look at histories for people he's about to hire? This was all too bizarre.

The waiting room was really filling up now. Sasuke thought about getting up to get a magazine, but at that moment a woman sat down in the chair next to him. He didn't know what to do. Would it be rude to get up?

The woman turned around, and, to Sasuke's alarm, smiled at him. _Did she see through me? _It took him a moment to realize that the smile was friendly, and not flirtatious. _Weird. _

"Hi, my name's Wendy. Are you here for the Uzumaki interviewing?" Her voice was light and chipper, completely friendly. Sasuke couldn't help but notice how her chestnut brown hair framed her face, or the way her emerald eyes gleamed under her thick black lashes. _Are girls usually like this to each other? All… friendly and nice?_

It took him a moment to realize that he was supposed to say something. "Oh. Yeah, yeah I'm here for the… yeah." _Damn. _"I'm Suki."

"Hey!" Wendy grinned again, and Sasuke smiled back, tentatively.

"So, who did you get recommended by?"

"Excuse me?" Sasuke again tucked another loose strand of hair behind his ear, feeling a little more relaxed. The question took him off guard, though.

"All of the people here are friends of friends of Mr. Uzumaki, I think," she said, peering around the room. Sasuke was shocked to see that the waiting area was completely filled, with women leaning against walls and chatting to each other. Females as a group were confusing to Sasuke; the only experience he had with them was with his sister and mother. The women here looked nice enough, but it was as if there was something deadly lurking beneath all of their smiles and laughs. He shook his head, trying to hide his confusion.

The number was also rather baffling, twenty-five beautiful women at least, and more coming. This Uzumaki character either had a lot of friends, or really sociable ones, if each of these women came recommended.

Sasuke remembered that the girl beside him, Wendy, had asked him a question. "I'm… friends with a guy named Kakashi, who's a long-time friend of his."

"Oh, Kakashi! Yeah, I think I heard that he also recommended that girl over there, in the red." Wendy pointed out a drop-dead gorgeous blonde, leaning against a wall with one perfectly-manicured hand resting against her hip. Sasuke felt his eye twitch. _Kakashi, you back-stabber._

An authoritative call pulled all of the women's attention to the front of the waiting area, their chipper conversations falling apart immediately. Before them, a woman of about thirty glanced around the room, her expression tight and composed.

"The first step of your interview will be beginning shortly. Please, everyone follow me." There was a great sound of rubbing fabric as everyone got to their feet, close on the woman's heels. Sasuke had the distinct impression that he was in a herd of cattle about to be slaughtered.

* * *

**There we go. Reviews are love, and they pump me up! So, REVIEW! Even if you don't like it! Tell me it's boring, and I'll still be happy! (yeah, I'm desperate.)**


	7. Chapter VI

**Hello! **

**So, I can explain. First there was school, then spring break, then fanfiction not letting me load on my stuff, then being in the pit of my school's musical (Phantom of the Opera, by the way! :D). It ended last night, which is making me meloncholy. However, I will now have waaay more time on my hands, which means that I will hopefully get more of these chapters out! I'm so sorry for those waiting on updates, and thank you for staying with it!**

**Disclaimer- Don't own Naruto.**

**Warnings: Super tired, and I feel like my contacts are about to fall out of my eyes. Please excuse any lame grammar mistakes, bad writing, or errors. I swear, my writing's usually much better!**

**That probably isn't a really encouraging statement, is it... Anyway. I'm excited for what's to happen, so stick with me!**

**Chapter VI**

Whatever Sasuke had imagined for his interview, it certainly wasn't this.

Before him, surrounded by the horde of beautiful women, was a gymnasium. A huge, 10-foot chain link fence blocked most of the room from his sight, wrapped in chains and warning stickers. He turned around and glanced out into the building's hallway. Yup, everything looked normal out there. Maybe he had stepped through a space-time continum, or something.

The woman in charge coughed slightly, and all of the girl's heads turned as one to watch her. "Mr. Uzumaki has asked for your patience in this first trial." _Trial? FIRST? _"Behind this fence is an obstacle course, which we ask you to complete in as short an amount of time as possible. The ten of you who succeed in completing the course before the others will be able to move on. All others will be asked to leave."

Sasuke couldn't believe his ears, or maybe the words were just getting mixed up in his head. _An obstacle course? The interview is an OBSTACLE COURSE? _It couldn't be. No boss would be that idiotic, that sadistic-

"Excuse me." A short redhead raised her hand, face scrunched up in agitation. "Where _is _Uzumaki Naruto?" The woman smiled.

"You'll see him, if you get through on time. He'll be waiting for you." The woman, who Sasuke still didn't know the name of, began to walk toward the chained door, fishing a key out of her pocket.

_It's really happening, then. _Sasuke sighed internally, before turning to Wendy, who was still beside him. "Well, good luck." It sounded like something a girl might say to her friend. He was preoccupied in trying to smile, while not appearing too agitated.

The woman in charge opened the door, and Wendy's elbow came out of nowhere, hitting Sasuke in the side. "OWW!" Sasuke's tried to make it sound as ladylike as possible, but it was difficult. He stared on, stunned, as the completely nice-looking girl pushed her way through the also moving girls, screaming along with the rest of them as they shoved their way to the entrance.

_What the hell? _

Finally, Sasuke was able to say something, and he was sure to make it sound high enough. "_BITCH!" _Funny, it sounded just like the way a girl would scream. Without realizing it, his limbs were moving, and he was sprinting towards the enterance with the rest of the girls.

Most had crammed themselves through the doorway by the time that Sasuke got to it. Running in heels made him want to fall over and die. However, he forgot the pain as soon as he saw the obstacle course before him.

The thing looked like an army practice ground that someone who had just eaten a lot of carrots threw up on. Everywhere he looked, Sasuke saw something else that he didn't know the name of: climbing ropes, boxes, nine-feet-tall walls, tires, pipes and much more, things that Sasuke had never seen outside of a movie, all in the most hideous shade of orange.

_I'm in hell. _Sasuke did work out some, and he kept his body in pretty good shape. But he had never been the sporty type, and he had no idea what most of this stuff was, much less how to obstacle-course through it.

Quickly glancing at the women around him, he saw that none of them had any squeamishness about the course. Some of the ones with tight dresses had ripped the sides so they could move more easily. Many of them had shucked their designer heels from their feet and abandoned them on the floor as they ran to the marked paths. All of them had the same determined look in their eyes, a look that made you feel like they would have no problem ripping your face off if you got in their way.

_What on earth was so good about this job? _Something must be pushing them to act like this. Or someone. Sasuke knew, in the split second that he paused, that it had to have something to do with the boss. He had known far too many fanatic girls in his past to misinterpret the waves coming off of the crazy women around him: back off, my catch.

As soon as he saw this, he realized that he was in much deeper waters than he had known. Fangirls were crazy on a level of their own. But when he thought about actually leaving the interview, two ideas ran through his head. One, these girls may be boy-crazy fanatic freaks, but he _needed _the job. Without it, he couldn't live by himself, couldn't have a home without being killed by his brother. Job or death. These girls had nothing on him in the need department.

_Two, _he said to himself, gritting his teeth, _no way am I losing to a bunch of fangirls._

Following the pack of women, he started by jumping through the tires laid out on the floor, gripping his heels in his hand. _I am _not _losing these damn pumps. _All around him, the air was filled with the yells and shrieks of frenzied women. Just in front of him, a couple got into a shrieking fight, pulling at each other's hair and tumbling down on the floor. Sasuke quickly leaped over them, determinedly staring at the rest of the pack. He was still near the back. He needed to speed up; there were about twenty women in front of him, and five behind, including the two brawling on the floor.

After jumping through the last tire (he thought about just skipping them, but realized that there was probably someone watching their progress from a secret camera) it was on to the hanging rope. The rope was connected to a pole, one which was connected to a platform that several women were currently running across, eleven feet above the ground. Sasuke wondered why he hadn't seen this poking out above the fence line. As the women squirmed their way up the rope, Sasuke winced, wishing for their sake that they had worn longer skirts, or ones that didn't ride up the way they did. Sasuke was now utterly thankful to Guy for providing him with pants.

_What kind of awful creep would put these women through this? _Sasuke glared at nothing in particular, seething at the idiocracy of his predicament. Everything was still too wild for Sasuke's taste, and the air was still filled with the sounds of women screeching. As one of the women started inching her way up the rope, the others would shake the thick cord until she tumbled back down again. They had all been reduced to screaming, beautiful idiots.

Growling, Sasuke made a leap for it as the latest girl fell from the rope with a yelp. He clung to the rope like a monkey, refusing to think how humiliating the experience was, as he started to inch his way upward. The women immediately started to shake the rope again, but he gritted his teeth and hung on for dear life, slowly moving upward. He could feel the sharp cords of the rope biting into his palms.

Finally, the top was in sight. By this time most of the women were screeching at him, oblivious to how they were all falling dramatically behind those who had been able to get to the rope before them. Giving a final grunt of exhaustion, Sasuke heaved himself onto the platform, breathing heavily. He didn't have enough energy to think about how unladylike he probably looked.

Looking over the side, he saw an expanse of more trials before him, and groaned.

From the ropes he ran to a series of padded poles, which he launched himself over quickly. He had to run along thin boards placed across expanses of space, nervous at the thought of how many bones he would break if he fell off of one. One of the challenges was shooting basketballs in hoops. Sasuke thought that it was hardly something that should be put in an obstacle course, but didn't complain, as it left several frustrated girls behind him, cursing at the nets.

From out of nowhere, an underground swimming pool stretched out across the gymnasium floor. Sasuke's eyebrow twitched, hardly believing the dobe who would put it there. A tiny zip line stretched itself across the expansive pool. Unease lurched in Sasuke's stomach. There was no way that he could fall into a pool of freezing water and get out with his femininity intact. He would have to be able to hang on for dear life.

His trial at the rope had paid off, since he was now around number twelve in the pack. Only a couple more of the women, and he could pass. But the girls at the head were there for a reason, leaping over the hurdles after the zip line with powerful ferocity. Among them was Wendy, and the sight of her made Sasuke's blood boil. He sprinted over to the zip line, prayed to god that he didn't fall in, and leaped off with the handlebar in his sweaty palms, heels still gripped tightly aroumd the bar.

And made it across. He let the handle go, not watching as it zipped back up to the top, where the next girl was screaming to go. He focused instead on the hurdles, jumping over them with a fair amount of agility. He was closing in fast on the leading pack, passing several women by with his sprinting.

Three women in front of him were yelling angrily at a wall. It was a steep, slick incline with no footholds, and the women were trying desperately to make their way up the incline without slipping to the bottom. Sasuke grinned, curling his toes within the damned hose that were about to rip apart from all of his sprinting. With a running start, he leapt up the wall, grabbing onto the top, while swinging himself over the side in a graceful arc. He landed on the other side balancing on his haunches, finally glad for all of those silly gymnastic classes his sister had made him take with her. Without pausing, he leapt to his feet, sprinting towards the next obstacle. Wendy was directly in front of him now, and he grinned devilishly, waiting until he could run past her.

Only two obstacles left. One of them looked rather like a jungle gym, the kind that Sasuke used to play on as a kid. However, he soon saw that it would be a little more difficult than simply pulling himself across. He would have to crawl along an expanse of bars, before leaping up to grab onto a horizontal ladder. That was easy enough, but it was where Wendy and another woman were bunched up that things got bad. It was as if the ladder had lost all of its rungs, and only the sides remained. Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows, wondering how to get across. After a split second it came to him, and he jumped onto the iron mesh, crawling across. He quickly leaped onto the rungs, pulling himself over to the last one, where Wendy was looking back at him with surprise and hostility.

"Hey Wendy, how's it going?" He used his cheerfulest tone while smiling cheekily at her. She looked ready to spit fire at him, her pretty face scrunched up into a scowl.

"Scram, bitch." The girl's eyes strayed to her clasped hands, and Sasuke could see that her arms were shaking under the strain.

"Such a bad mouth. Here, let me help you with that." Letting go with one hand, Sasuke leaned into the girl, making her turn back to him with a look of pure hatred in her eyes.

"Don't you dar-!"

"Too late." Sasuke shoved her, feeling her weight pull her down from the bars and onto the mats lying on the ground, shrieking. Grinning, he turned back to the bars, gently swinging his body back and forth. As he came forward, he let go, twisting his body so that he landed on top of the left side ladder railing while flipping over. He wobbled slightly on the ledge, holding out his arms for support. Then, he stood up, feeling the thin metal beneath his toes. He turned around, waving at Wendy on the ground. Chuckling at her shrieks of outrage, he ran along the metal beam as quickly as he could, leaping to the ground.

The final obstacle was before him. The other two girls had clearly gotten through the huge slab that currently blocked his way, because he couldn't see them anywhere. How any girl would be able to lift the thing was beyond his knowledge. Putting all of his strength into his arms, he grasped the bottom of the slab, gritting his teeth at the throbbing pain running through his muscles. The block moved, and he pulled up harder, closing his eyes to the strain.

With a final heave, he was able to get the slab up enough to slip underneath, feeling it slam down behind him. He panted, rubbing the back of his hand across his brow and noticing how much he smelled like women's perspirent. Slowly, on weak legs, he walked to the door before him, opened it, and walked through the fence, cursing the man who thought this up to hell.

The woman from before was waiting there, and compared to her other face, Sasuke imagined that this was her smile. "Well done. You came in third. Please exit through this door into the waiting area until the others are done." She motioned in the direction of the door, and Sasuke numbly walked towards it, feeling like his feet would never be pain-free again. At least he had held onto his heels.

The two girls in the waiting room looked bedraggled and slightly shell-shocked, as if they had just been dragged through a war area. However, when Sasuke came into the room, they still faced him with the same determined glare, this time tinged with triumph.

_Crazy women, _Sasuke thought, looking around for a bathroom door. Thankfully, there was one, and he hurried over to the one marked female, blessing the soft carpet beneath his weary feet. He decided that the girls in the waiting room were a little too tired to even realize that there was a bathroom here; otherwise, they would have been in front of the mirror, preening.

Instead, he got it all to himself. He stared at his reflection, feeling a little embarrassed. His face was red, his bangs slicked against his forehead. His ponytail was in shambles, with half of it falling out of the holder anyway. Pulling out the scrunchie, he used some water from the sink to slick back his hair, sighing as he put it up again. Stupid long stuff. After accomplishing this, he splashed water on his face, hoping to bring down the heat in his face. Too late he remembered that he was wearing makeup. When he looked up, he saw long trails of black running down his face.

"Damn."

* * *

When Sasuke came out of the bathroom, he was faced with an almost full waiting room. Sitting in one of the chairs by a corner was Wendy, who glared scathingly at Sasuke as he entered. Just as he walked out, the outside door opened again, and the final bedraggled girl triumphantly walked through, followed by the older woman.

"Okay, so that's everyone! I must congratulate you all on completing the course. I hope that you had fun?"

Everyone in the room looked at her as if she had lost her marbles. She laughed, a little weakly.

"At least it was an experience. Okay! The next stage is an interview. The three who are selected after this will complete a final challenge, before winning the job as secretary. Mr. Uzumaki, would you like to come out now?"

Sasuke quickly found a seat, strangely hesitant to finally meet the man. _That's ubsurd, _he thought angrily, but couldn't help holding his breath as the door to a room opposite the door they had entered opened. Sasuke leaned to the side to see the man better, and when he did, he felt his body go a little numb. For a moment, all he could see was the man's golden spikes and the lithe outline of his form. Then, the man looked up, and smiled the most beautiful smile Sasuke had ever seen. He couldn't look away from the blonde's eyes, the deepest and richest shade of blue, standing out against his tanned skin which was unblemished besides three scratches on either cheek. The man laughed and scratched the back of his head apologetically. He was dressed in a black t-shirt and jeans that hugged his legs in a way that Sasuke believed was illegal, with a black jacket accented by slashes of orange. He leaned to one side of his frame, and Sasuke's eyes were drawn to the way that the jeans stretched across the man's legs.

It took several moments for Sasuke to realize that he had been outright gawking at the man. He blinked his eyes slowly, leaning back, rather startled. He had never gawked, _ever. _He shook his head slightly, feeling a tingling in his chest. He opened his eyes again when he heard the man begin to speak.

"Hi, everyone. Sorry for any discomfort with the obstacle course, I didn't know you guys would be so serious!" He laughed, and everyone in the room laughed with him, because it was quite impossible not to. Sasuke spared a glance at the women sitting around the room, and saw that they had all turned into a bunch of kittens, smiling sweetly at the man before them. He quickly scrubbed his face of his own dreamy grin, alarmed that it was there.

"Oh, it was fun, really!" The voice was Wendy's, and Sasuke wanted to glare at her, so badly. This snapped him out of his daze, and he turned back to the man before him, telling himself that this was the same man who had put him through that hellish trial. He didn't like the guy. No, he did not.

He was speaking again. "So, I hope you don't mind, but I'd like to get these interviews started as soon as possible. Who was the first to finish?"

A girl with long, perfectly blonde hair shakily got to her feet, her eyes surprised, as if she didn't know what she was doing here. Sasuke wanted to laugh, now able to think a little more clearly. Was this really the same woman who had so ferociously beat off the other women to get her chance to be interviewed by… him?

They walked through the door together, and Sasuke felt a distinct pain in his chest that the man was leaving.

_Shut up! _Sasuke leaned back in his chair with as must composure as he could muster up, pulling on the poker face that he used so often. Inside, he was reeling. _It's just the heat, _he told himself. _Just the heat._

_What heat? _It had to be something, because his face felt like it was on fire.

* * *

A couple of minutes after the man had left, the girls in the waiting room began to thaw out, looking as if they had just woken up from a dream. Sasuke simply stared at the wall, waiting for his face to cool down.

The more he thought about it, the more he became angry at the man. Really, what was his problem, going around and forcing people to go through obstacle courses? Just because he may be a little handsome- okay, beautiful- did not give him the right to do whatever he wanted with people. And he knew what he was talking about, being a guy that girls drooled over all of the time. Somehow, seeing him in the flesh gave justification to Sasuke's anger. He tried not to think about how juvenile he was acting.

The first interview actually didn't take that long. He hadn't really been watching the clock or anything, but it looked to be about seven minutes and thirty-eight seconds. Sasuke turned as the office door opened (now that he had a time to breathe, he really wondered about the layout of this place, and how it was so oddly situated) to see the blonde-haired girl walk out, with a faint glow still about her, but a slightly pickled look about her lips. Sasuke's eyebrows scrunched together under his sharp bangs. Now, what did _that _mean.

The next girl, with shiny brown locks tumbling down her back, couldn't jump out of her seat fast enough. Sasuke carefully followed her with his eyes, sighing internally. These women didn't seem to have a limit in how far they would go for the man in the office. Sasuke wondered what that kind of infatuation felt like.

The teenager leaned back in his chair, settling in for the next wait. He tried to keep his thoughts at a minimum, simply staring at the walls. It would do no good to stress out about the situation, or overanalyze anything. All he had to do was wait…

_Maybe I should have brought something to read. _He jiggled his heeled foot for a few seconds, before realizing how feminine it looked and firmly planting both feet on the ground.

_I'm going to have to get used to all of this girl stuff. _

Languidly, he leaned up against the wall behind him, slowly closing his eyes. He knew that if he let himself, and if anxiety wasn't wound up so tightly in his stomach, he could easily fall asleep here. He was exhausted. Creeping in like an afterthought, he began to muse over the events before him.

So, now he had a face to go with the name. Funny- when he tried to match it up with the bio online and his assumptions, they didn't fit. He could hardly see why; the vague paragraph lacked any personal touch to it. But maybe that was it- the man that he had seemed to have so much _life _behind him, something that couldn't be hidden behind one boring paragraph. Sasuke had grown up looking at men of power, with fiercely lined faces and hard eyes. Uzumaki Naruto was _definitely _not that. How old could he be? Sasuke knew he must have looked at his birth date somewhere in his searches, but had just not taken it in. Twenty-one, twenty-two? Too young- and handsome- to be the head of a company. Sasuke also cursed that he hadn't just given a second to actually go and look up a picture of the man before he came in- it sure would have saved him some internal embarrassment.

So why was he the head of the company? Clearly, his father died, leaving him the heir. But how had he died? He might just have been an old geezer who keeled over one day, but for some reason, Sasuke doubted it. How he could make _any _assertions at all about the man from just looking at him, Sasuke didn't know. Maybe he was going insane.

But Sasuke could see where the attraction that the girls felt came from. If it wasn't the looks – which Sasuke was beginning to resent- it certainly was the charm about him, that energy. He could feel it across the room. It was like he was a huge, glowing sun, shining so brightly that it almost hurt to look at him. Sasuke winced at how corny his internal thoughts were. Remembering his past life, when he actually _looked _like a boy, girls couldn't help but fall over themselves to get close to him. He had been the exact opposite of this man: dark, pale, and standoffish, hating the extra attention and never getting in a relationship with a girl. The cause for this was probably his constant fan group- aka, stalkers. They followed him everywhere, and he could only guess that they were attracted to his cold attitude- otherwise, why did they keep coming back? He never could figure out the female mind. He wished that they could all be like Hanae, because then they would at least make sense _half _of the time.

But if Sasuke spurned the female's advances, this man, Naruto, appeared to thrive on it. Why else would he act the way he had, all carefree and relaxed? There had to be a motive, and the idea that the man took pleasure in all of that idiotic fawning made Sasuke's blood boil. What a shallow, bubble-headed-

"Miss Satou?"

Sasuke's eyes flew open, realizing that he had slowly drifted off to sleep. He started slightly, looking up into the face of Miss Secretary. He looked over at the clock, and saw that nearly fifteen minutes had transpired. He heard a door, and saw the brown-haired woman exiting the waiting area. It took him several moments before he realized that this meant that it was _his _turn up to plate.

_Great. _Sasuke's thoughts were still alive with anger for the man and his offenses. _This is going to be a great interview. _

* * *

I'm kind of wondering about the layout of this office place, myself… I think I'll explain that next chapter.

***Twelfth Night Corner***

**Okay, so this is going to be my little place to rant about Twelfth Night. If you're interested about my editing/additions to the piece, this is probably where you're going to find them. But if you'd rather not, please, by all means- go ahead. :)**

**So, here's a list of all of the characters so far, and who they are in the play (if you've read the play, of course…)**

**Sasuke- Viola**

**Hanae- Sebastian**

**Kakashi- Captain**

**Jiriya- Sir Toby**

**Tsunade- Maria **

**Neji- Olivia**

**Naruto- Duke Orsino**

**If you notice, a lot of the genders were switched between the two storylines. Because that's just how I roll. XD**


	8. Chapter VII

**Hey everyone! Another chapter. Really late, I know. I'm trying! Summer's coming up, and I have a rather lacking schedule. Which means I will hopefully have an abundance of hours to work on my fanfiction! :D **

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto.**

**Warnings:Nothing, really. Sasuke might seem a little pissy, sorry.**

**Chapter VII**

Naruto leaned back in his reclining chair, staring at the ceiling while throwing a pen in the air. He watched its arc, bored out of his mind. When he had asked his friends if they would ask _their_ friends to apply as his secretary, he hadn't really expected what they would give him. They were nice enough girls, but… The memory of Haku, his last secretary, was still fresh in his mind, and he smiled. Even though Haku wasn't a girl, which he preferred, he might as well have been, with the comfort and friendliness that he always seemed to spare for Naruto. His reason behind asking for only female secretaries was really quite simple: girls were the ones who understood him. Most of the employees situated in his main office area were female, although there were some guys as well, who had shown themselves to be true friends. Which was what Naruto was looking for.

But the two girls that he had seen already… They were very beautiful, he reasoned fairly. But there was no connection there, no friendliness, just… yearning. He frowned, fingering the pen in his hands. It made very little sense to him, the way that they would come in hordes to see him. He had had several cameras installed in the obstacle course area to watch the girl's progress through their journey, and he was appalled at the lengths that they would all go to reach their goal.

Naruto looked at the door, wondering why there was a pause in the flow of females coming in. The one before had entered only moments after her predecessor, eyes just a little too bright and brimming. He sat up in his chair, gazing at the picture that he had posted to the door with a wry smile. This wasn't actually his office, since he just needed a room near the gymnasium to introduce himself to the applicants, but he _had_ been quick to paste that sucker up as soon as he could. He almost giggled at the remembrance of the girls' reactions to the picture as they left to go.

Finally, he heard an approaching set of footsteps behind his door, and sat up straighter. A pause, and then the door was opened, revealing a young woman in a dark dress suit. Naruto's eyes were drawn to her hair, the most perfect shade of black, pulled back into a ponytail with a raven wing of a bang nestled against her forehead. When she looked into his face, he was surprised by a number of things: the strength of her features, with her high cheekbones and strong chin; her dark obsidian eyes, glistening with a fascinating amount of dormant fire; her perfectly flawless skin, the light catching her in all of the right places, just like a model. But the most peculiar thing was her expression, a mix of anxiety, fear, and… anger?

No, that couldn't be it. But as she moved closer, he couldn't shake the feeling that those alluring eyes held some abhorrence for him. Fascinated, he sat up and smiled easily at the girl, holding out a hand.

"Hello, I'm Uzumaki Naruto, nice to meet you!" The girl hesitated for a split second, glancing at the hand with a stone-cold face. A poker face, an actor's face. Naruto watched in mild surprise as the countenance quickly shifted from anger to solemnity to a mix of pleasantness. Was that strain he saw at the corners of her mouth? The girl looked up, and Naruto got a better look at her eyes. Just as dark as from across the room, with a captivating sliver of red circling her iris.

"Satou Suki. It's a pleasure to meet you." At his motions, she took the chair before the desk, gently fixing her legs beneath her. He couldn't help but think how cute the motions were, and smiled. _Maybe she'll be the one. _

"So, Suki. Can I call you Suki?"

"Yes." Her voice was pleasant, but Naruto couldn't help feeling that there was still something below the surface.

"What a pretty name. And you look in pretty good shape from the obstacle course." She did look extremely well-off compared to the others: her hair wasn't sticking up in every direction, her complexion had faded to a pale, milky white, and she held a composure about her that the others had lacked. The way she stood so erectly in the chair- he wondered what background she came from, how she had been brought up. "Where are you from?"

Surprisingly, she seemed to bristle at his question and comments. Her face scrunched up into a look of hostility, alarming Naruto. "Actually, I have a question for you, Mr. Uzumaki."

"Yes?" He said, cautiously.

"Why is every woman who applied for this position incredibly beautiful?" Her pale cheeks dampened with an angry blush. Naruto sat with a startled expression on his face, then laughed.

"Oh. Well, I asked my friends if they knew any "nice, pretty girls" to recommend as being my new secretary. I guess they paid more attention to the second bit than the first." He laughed again, but when he looked over at the raven-haired girl, she wasn't smiling.

"So when you asked for these girls, were you hoping for something nice to look at?"

"No!" He said, startled. Did it look like that to everyone else? "No, that wasn't my intention at all! Really, I just wanted someone friendly."

"Friendly?" Suki's eyebrow rose.

"No, it's not what you think!" Naruto's eyes were now as wide as saucers. "That wasn't my intention at all!" _What am I doing? I'm the boss here!_ "Anyways, it's not your place to question my motives."

"Well, I'd like to know what kind of guy I'm working for if I take the job." Naruto couldn't believe his ears, or the raven's condescending expression. What was with that all-knowing smirk? It made his blood boil. Looking at the girl now, he couldn't believe that at one time he thought she was pretty. She just looked like one full-of-herself tomboy.

_Teme(1)_, he thought to himself, glaring at her.

"And another thing. What was with the obstacle course? I mean, really? How cruel would you have to be to subject women to that kind of treatment?"

"It was supposed to be fun!"

"Oh, right. Because making them crawl up ropes and kill each other is _fun._"

"I-!" Naruto knew he had to calm down; he could feel anger building up inside of him for the girl across the table. "No. I just wanted to add some diversity to the applying process." He glared back at her, challenging her to speak against him again. She stayed silent, glaring. He sighed.

"I'm sorry, I guess I gave off the wrong impression. I'm really just trying to get to know the applicants better." He gave her an apologetic smile. Although the girl didn't really return it, her face did loosen from its angry glare.

"So, let's start over. Um…" he searched around for a question. "Why do you want this job?"

"A man I know recommended me."

"Oh right! You're the one that Kakashi recommended!" Naruto remembered now. Kakashi had called him to tell him that he had found someone to take Haku's place as his secretary. He had sounded so sure on the phone that this one would be just what Naruto wanted. How could he have forgotten? He glanced across the table at Suki, looking like more and more of a tomboy every minute. _I wonder what on earth Kakashi was thinking of, _Naruto thought.

"One of the ones, at least."

"Excuse me?"

"I heard that Kakashi recommended more than one girl." Suki looked huffy, which, for some reason, made Naruto want to hug her, even though he was still angry.

"What? No, you were the only one he spoke about." Naruto was sure about that. He was bemused and a little confused to see Suki glance to the side, hissing something under her breath. "Anyways. Is that the only reason you want the job?" He didn't know why he was looking for something else, but he couldn't let it go.

The girl paused for a moment, and he could see her thinking it out. It looked as if she was trying to come up with what information she wanted to give out. Finally, she said, "yes." He didn't know why he was disappointed.

"Okay…Next question. What are your strengths and weaknesses?" Standard question.

Again, he could see that the girl was actually thinking about her response. It was rather refreshing, compared to the other two women who had just babbled. Finally, she answered.

"I guess my strengths are that I'm a hard worker, and I'm intelligent. I…" She paused, taking in a deep breath. "Well, I do need this job, and I'd work hard to keep it." Naruto was a little surprised to see such humility coming from her. Somehow, he knew that it wasn't in her nature.

She wrinkled her nose. "But really, what kind of employer would hire someone without credentials?" She looked a little surprised at what she had said, and looked like she wanted to eat her words. Naruto' s eyebrow twitched.

"I think it's more important to get to know them personally."

"Yes, but-"

"Are you telling me how to do my job?" Naruto growled, glaring at the girl before him. He could see anger flare up in her eyes, but refused to cringe as she got to her feet, almost hissing.

"Only pointing out the obvious, _dobe." _Her tongue savored the word as if it was chocolate, and she smirked. Naruto felt himself get to his feet as well.

"_Who's _a dobe, teme?"

"I believe I just labeled you as one… dobe." Again, that smirk. Naruto felt like he was about to explode.

"All right, that's it! Where on _earth _do you get the nerve to call me that?"

"Hn." She looked indifferent to his words, but he could see a flicker of something –regret?- in her eyes. He was too angry to stop now, though.

"So, since you think my interviews are so horrible, than I guess this one is finished." He was seething, waiting for her to backtrack. Her pride didn't seem to allow her to do so, however, as she only frowned. Nodding stiffly, she glanced up at his eyes, and he was caught once again in their dark fire. His anger started to lessen, as he realized that he could see a kind of pain within them, covered up and enfolded in shame.

"Thank you for the chance," she stated, softer than before, almost a whisper. Then, she moved away, turning around to face the door. She paused a moment at the picture on the wood, taking it in, before turning around half-way to see him again.

"Hn." Her face, soft for a moment, loosened as her mouth was drawn up at the corners. "Would have been nice." Then she turned away, opened the door, and walked out, leaving a confused Naruto to stare at his pinned-up picture of Hyuuga Neji, the man's face handsome and smirking.

* * *

(1)… **WELL, I HAD TO PUT IN THE NICKNAME SOMEWHERE! I guess we can just say that Naruto thinks of Sasuke as a tomboy, which is why he would call him/her bastard…?**

**Haha, this situation cracks me up.**

**Not much to say. Poor Sasuke, can't keep his trap shut… Review, please! I would love some feedback, and every time I get a review, I squeal really loud! :D I don't know if that's an incentive… But I hope that helping me write faster is! :)**

**Oh wait… there's….**

***Twelfth Night Corner***

**So, in the play, the Duke (Naruto) is completely overcome with unrequited love for Olivia (Neji, in this case), and therefore kind of walks around in a gloom all of the time. But I felt that Naruto would feel gloomy, but in a much more lively way, you know? So I'm working on adding in hints about his depression, but I don't know if it's going that well at the moment... They'll definitely be more common in later chapters, though, so watch out for Depressed/Gloomy Naruto! :D **

**Hm. That's not really something to be excited about, is it…**


	9. Chapter VIII

**Hi again, everyone! So, a lot of Sasuke emotion in this chapter. Sure, it's a little slow, but you get to look into Sasuke's head, ne?**

**Oh! I bet you're probably wondering why I got this chapter out so quickly, seeing as I'm such a fail at it usually. Well... I guess I have a little secret... I actually have this big stash of chapters stored up. I mostly keep them there and off fanfiction so I can work on them if need be. (I think I might have explained this before). So I have about 5 at the moment, and I felt really bad for not updating in the longest time, so I polished this one up to send out. My hope is that I can keep about 5 chapters ahead of the latest one out, but this all depends on how fast I write them in the first place...**

**I'm babbling now. Oh boy...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

**Warnings: A big pot of Sasuke angst and some good ol' bad language :D**

* * *

**Chapter VIII**

Sasuke didn't really have the heart to take the subway home, but he did anyway, he had to. The feat of maneuvering his way through the complicated labyrinth of subway tunnels seemed difficult anyways, but the idea of completing the task when his thoughts were so jumbled and he could barely think straight made it that much more impossible. Really, who came up with the idea for the subway layout, and what sadistic mind would put a person through so much confusion?

But it didn't matter. Very little mattered, in fact. He had screwed up.

He knew that this had been his one chance at getting a job that didn't include scrubbing toilets. Who else would give a guy (oh wait, excuse me- girl) a job that paid well and in a nice work environment without caring who he was?

_But that was the problem_, Sasuke thought bitterly, cursing the irony. That man, Naruto, _did _care about who he was- he cared about what kind of personality he had, what kind of _friend _he'd be. And there, Sasuke had failed. His entire past exemplified how weak he was in the friend department. He didn't even know what the term _meant_, for God's sake. He glared angrily at the tunnel fleeting behind the train's windows, black and unforgiving, and he refused to show any emotion. Maybe these girl clothes were making him soft, but he could feel a sharp prickling at the back of his eyes which he pushed down, swallowing hard.

It was as if he couldn't stop insulting the blonde. He had been given numerous chances to start out on the right foot, but for some reason, he couldn't hold back his insults. There was just something that fired him up about the man. Maybe it was his happy-go-lucky nature, or how casually he exuded his attractiveness, as if he didn't even know he was doing it. Really, how could he not know how appealing he looked with his messy blonde hair, innocent blue eyes, and lazy smile? Even the way he leaned against the table was appealing, with his elbow perched on the side of the desk while holding up one side of his face with his hand, stretching his face enough to turn his smile into a slight smirk.

So why had he acted the way he did? _Because you're a dick, _he thought, and laughed internally. Isn't that the fucking truth? _Not that I could have turned out any different, what with my incapable-of-love family and all. _Just thinking about his father's unfeeling attitude and Itachi's superior demeanor made his blood boil. His entire family was a mess.

But that wasn't true. His mother was the kindest person he had ever known. He had never acknowledged how lucky he was to have her before, but now that she was gone… He slumped forward in the subway seat, bringing the heels of his palms against his closed eyelids..

And Hanae. How could he say that his family was incapable of loving, when she was a part of it? She had been the one with friendships that would last forever, or so the depth and strength of them contested. Everyone she knew fell in love with her personality and her perseverant attitude towards anything she got in her head. In that way, she was just like every other member of the Uchiha family: stubborn and hard-headed. But in her case, it only made people like her more. To all of the males in the family, it just made them look like jerks.

_Which is what I must have seemed like to Naruto, _he thought, rubbing the backs of his palms deeper into his forehead. _What was I thinking, acting that way? _He realized even while the words were escaping his lips during the interview that he was being condescending and haughty. _How on _earth _could I have acted like that? _

But it was because he had grown up to expect no different.

All of his life, the surname of Uchiha had given him more gifts than he believed possible. He lived in a rich home, never having to worry about food or money. Everyone knew who his family was, and he had been well-respected in communities that he had not even contributed anything to. Everyone had wanted to be next to him, and part of this was from the inherited good lucks that ran in his family. He used to convince himself that he deserved all of it, with all of his intelligence and all of the painful struggles and problems within his family. But he knew that he had lived an easy life, and now that he had none of it, he realized how much he had wasted.

_I had wanted to grow independent from my family's unneeded hatred, _Sasuke thought, glaring away angry tears. _But all I did was become the same man as my father, as Itachi._

Early on, he had at least been able to realize that there was a problem with his family, that they weren't supposed to have such a self-destructive nature, and that their inclusive habits were unhealthy. And he had wanted to stay away from that path, he had.

He had been given so much time! He could have worked out a way to be independent and free of hate, with all of the time of childhood! But here he was, grown-up prematurely, with limited resources and strength, as hateful as all Uchihas, incapable of love.

He rubbed his palm across his wet cheeks, gritting his teeth. The position he was in was despicable. Here he was, on the subway, crying, and alone. He had never been strong enough. Maybe with Hanae, but not now.

He felt a soft tap on his shoulder, and he looked up with a start, trying to rearrange his face to a suitable expression. It was a well-learned habit; his father had always told him to never show weakness in front of anyone.

Beside him, a man in his early twenties leaned over, a slightly languid look about his form and face. He had his hands in his pockets, and a short black ponytail against the back of his head. When Sasuke looked into his face, he saw an expression mixed with worry and boredom.

Once Sasuke had turned towards him, the man pulled back a bit, looking a little irritated. "Aw shit, I thought you were crying. How troublesome." His voice was just as lazy and drooping as his posture. After a sigh, he sat down in the seat next to the raven.

Sasuke didn't know what to do. At first he felt like glaring until the man went away. _What did he think he was doing, intruding on other people's privacy? _But when he thought about it, he realized that this standoffish attitude was what got him in this problem in the first place, so he instead remained silent.

"What is it? Boyfriend broke up with you? Lost your job?" At first glance, Sasuke had thought the stranger's eyes were dull and uncaring. However, although there was still a certain detachment about the look, Sasuke could see that the man was not unobservant. He laughed ruefully, careful to make it sound as feminine and realistic as possible.

"Lost a job opportunity, actually." He slumped back in his seat, suddenly caught in a wave of overwhelming fatigue. He didn't want to lose sight of the man beside him, so he kept his head tilted a bit to look at the man's face. The stranger sighed again, this time a little resigned.

"Hey, I'm not the best at these kinds of things. But don't let it get you down. There are more chances for you." He looked to the side, chuckling lightly. "Yeah, I really suck at this." Sasuke laughed too, closing his eyes for a brief minute. As strange as it sounded, the situation didn't feel that uncomfortable to Sasuke. With the bored man sitting beside him, the subway car felt a little less frightening, a little warmer. Even though he realized that he was talking to a stranger with about as little protection as he had ever had in his life, he felt… okay.

"Yeah, I'm trying to tell myself that. But…" He sighed, still keeping his voice raised. Somehow, however, the charade had begun to feel a little more natural to him, and he could keep it up with less effort. "Well, I really wanted this job. It suited my needs." Yeah, the need to never bring up his past again.

"What happened? Did you screw up a job interview or something?"

"Yeah," Sasuke sighed again, brushing a few strands of hair away from his face. "I don't know. For some reason, we just ended up butting heads."

"I'm sure it wasn't so bad. Maybe you're over exaggerating?"

"Nah." Sasuke laughed hollowly. "It ended after I criticized him on the way he ran his interviews."

"Ouch." The man winced, chuckling a bit. "You must have had some balls to do that. No offense."

Sasuke laughed as well, feeling better. _You have no idea._

* * *

Sasuke had lost track of which stops the train had passed, and when he heard his own called out over the intercom, he stood up with a shock. _Was it really that short? _On the way to his interview, it felt like it had lasted for hours. He turned apologetically to the man beside him, who was leaning against the back of his seat. They had been having a nice conversation, light and friendly. Sasuke didn't believe that he had ever had one like that before.

"Here's my stop." He smiled apologetically, grabbing his jacket from where he had set it beside him. "Thank you for the conversation. It was… very nice."

"No problem." The man waved a lazy hand, a smile quirking the edges of his mouth. "I hope you feel better."

"Thank you." Sasuke turned and walked to the exit, holding on to the warm feeling he had gained with the stranger to make his way through the platform and gateways. It wasn't until he was aboveground again and breathing in fresh air that he realized that he had forgotten to ask the man for his name.

* * *

"So, how'd it go?" As soon as Sasuke opened the door with the key Kakashi had given him that morning, the silver-haired man was standing in the entryway, smiling beneath his mask. Sasuke's eyebrow twitched. It was as if he had been waiting there all day for him to return. Didn't he have a job or something?

He almost felt worse for having to tell Kakashi the truth, if that were possible. "I screwed up." Sighing, he threw his jacket on the couch, escaping the devilish heels as quickly as he could. His feet still hurt like hell. Had it really been only a few hours since that damned obstacle course?

"How so?" Kakashi walked behind him, picking up the heels and putting them neatly beside the door, before retrieving the thrown jacket and straightening it out. Somehow, he reminded Sasuke of his mother, which caused a pang in his stomach.

"Well, I made it through the first challenge." He couldn't help but glare a little. "It was an _obstacle course, _Kakashi! Who does that?" He frowned when Kakashi nodded his head.

"Yes, I thought he would do something along those lines." Instead of letting Sasuke complain about why Kakashi hadn't told him this before, he went on. "But you said you made it through, so it's all fine. What next?"

Still glaring, Sasuke went on to tell the man about the disaster of the interview that took place afterword. By this time, they were both sitting at the kitchen counter, and Sasuke was grudgingly eating a sandwich that Kakashi had made for him.

After he finished, Sasuke watched Kakashi stare off into the distance for a few moments. Finally, he spoke.

"Naruto sets the interview up the way he did because he wants to find out what kind of person it is he's hiring. I know it didn't look like it when you talked to him, but he's actually had a rough past, and he wasn't always as open as you saw him. He's met a lot of bad people, Sasuke, and he wants to make sure that you won't be one of them."

The teenager looked down at his half-finished sandwich, losing his appetite. Something hurt hollowly in his chest. That's what Sasuke was, a bad person. This entire time, he had only been thinking about himself. He hadn't even begun to examine anything about Naruto or his feelings. He pushed away from the table, sighing.

"Thanks, Kakashi. I'm sorry I lost my chance." He dropped from his stool, feeling his heart drop along with it. He had failed Kakashi, the man who had given him a new life, a chance to live. He moved around the counter, heading for his room. Once he was there, he had no idea what he'd do. There was nothing left to do.

"Oh, I don't know about that." Sasuke paused, and turned back around to face Kakashi, a confused look on his usually controlled face.

"What?"

"Well, unless the woman on the phone was playing an extremely mean trick on you, you were chosen to be one of the finalists."

Sasuke stared at the man for a few moments, not comprehending the words. Then, he took a step forward.

"And you couldn't have told me this _before _I had my little pity party?"

Kakashi shrugged, as if it didn't matter any to him. This caused the fact of the matter to actually hit Sasuke. _I have another chance. He wants me back._

"Anyways, she told me about the final challenge." He grinned, and even in his cloud of happiness, Sasuke had the wits to frown slightly at the smile. That was a warning signal if he'd ever seen one.

"What's the final challenge?" He said warily, nervous for the response. Of course, he wouldn't tell anyone that he was nervous; Uchihas don't get nervous. He kept the same blank look on his face.

Kakashi appeared to be enjoying this a little too much. "The final challenge… Is…" he paused for effect, just like an announcer on a game show. Sasuke half expected him to say "… a new car!" Instead, he said something much worse.

"A ball!"

Sasuke stared at the silver-haired man for a few moments, stumped. "A ball?" In his mind he saw a big red bouncy ball, which made no sense at all.

Kakashi was not affected by Sasuke's apparent confusion. "Oh, this is going to be wonderful! I can't wait to tell Guy! He's going to be so excited to pick out the dress-"

"Wait." Sasuke's eye s had focused, and they were slowly beginning to darken and smolder. "Are you talking about a _ball _ball, with dancing, and music, and entertainment…?"

Kakashi turned to face Sasuke, a slightly exasperated look on his face. "Of _course, _a ball ball. What were you thinking of?" The man turned around and startled dialing a number on his phone. Sasuke simply walking over to the couch, sitting down quietly. Blankly staring at a wall, he imagined clinging onto a huge, red bouncy ball, and how this idea was far more appealing than going to a dance.

* * *

**Heh heh, Sasuke on a bouncy ball….**

**Anyways, reviews are love! See you next time!**


	10. Chapter IX

**Hey! So, I'm still writing these at a semi-steady pace, but the 5-chapter idea appears to be more and more stupid. Never fear, though! I will do all within my power to bring these out on a normal basis. :)**

**Disclaimer- Don't own Naruto, still. Actually, I'm not sure if I need/should keep up with saying this. It's boring unless you put something funny up here, and I'm not very clever…**

**Warnings- Neji yearnin'!**

* * *

**Chapter IX**

The ballroom was elegant, Naruto declared to himself, smiling. It was an extravagantly large room, expanding both lengthwise and heightwise to the extreme. Along the wide expansion of walls, floor-to-ceiling windows looked out upon a beautifully well-kept lawn, and as night descended, the outside lights bathed the gardens in an ethereal glow. Inside, on the ceiling, a large, slowly revolving chandelier dominated the expansive stretch of painted surface. The tablecloths stretched over long modern tables, and there were couches and chairs scattered around the edges of the dance floor, all finely decorated. The lights inside cast an enchanting glow about the place, allowing for long-fingered shadows to stretch across obscure areas of the room.

All in all, not a bad place for a staff party.

Really, Naruto didn't understand why the other major players in his company disliked having the party in a ballroom. He had the money for it; why not go all-out once a year on his employees? Everyone in the main office and those closest to it, from the highest manager to the lowliest mail-room boy, were invited to the ball. It was one of Naruto's favorite days in the whole year, always taking place sometime at the end of April.

It was about a half hour before anyone would be arriving, but Naruto was already in the ballroom, wandering around and checking out all of the decorations. He was dressed in a sharp black tux, contrasting well (in his own opinion) with his tanned skin and spiky blonde hair. Just for kicks, he had placed a bright orange carnation in his pocket.

He wandered over to listen to the orchestra tuning up. He watched their motions with pleasure, the way each handled their instruments and tuned them with skill and precision. He loved the mix of them, as well: the cluster of violins; the grouped violas; several cellos, facing the dance floor; the two basses, strumming out quiet rhythms with nimble fingers. Naruto could watch them for hours.

He was brought out of his viewing, however, by a tap on his shoulder. Turning around, he gave out a shout when he saw who it was. "Kiba!" The man had actually made the effort to dress up, although the muddy dog prints across the front of his white tux shirt took away some of the glamour. His brown hair, although still rather wild, had been combed down some, but he still appeared a bit feral with the two red triangles tattooed under his eyes. He looked a little uncomfortable in his formal wear, but when the blonde turned around, he smiled widely, showing off his prominent canines.

"Hey, douchebag. I can't believe you got me to dress up in this monkey suit again this year." Kiba took the blonde up in his arms in a big bear hug, squeezing hard enough to make Naruto wheeze mercy. "So, when does this shin-dig start again?"

"In about five minutes, dummy." Trust Kiba to not even know about the time of a party. Hell, he still didn't know the time he was supposed to be at work every morning, even though he'd been working for Naruto since the blonde had become president, four years ago. Kiba was one of his closest and longest-held friends. He had been one of the only ones who had helped pick up the pieces of Naruto, after…

The man was brought out of his thoughts when Kiba slapped him on the back. "Anyway, I'm only here for the food. Where the hell is it, anyway?" At Naruto's resigned pointing, Kiba turned around to face the refreshment table. "Excellent!" Naruto couldn't help but smile at Kiba's jaunting sprint to the food, knowing that he had ordered twice as much as was normal just for the man.

As Kiba began chowing down on the food on his plate with his bare hands, he saw more people entering the ballroom. Several of them he didn't know, or only faintly. But there was one wanderer who he knew very well, and, grinning, he walked over.

"Temari!" He waved at her, and she blandly glared back, one black-nailed hand on her hip. He was always surprised to her see her on the rare occasions when she dressed up, because it contrasted so distinctly from her usual outfit of fishnets, ripped jeans, band t-shirts, and her own special , unmistakable style. Now, she almost looked becoming in her floor-length ball gown of black silk, her usually pig-tailed blonde hair drawn up into a bun against the nape of her neck. As long as you didn't look at the expression in her elegantly-lined eyes, a glare worthy of any prisonmate, you could actually believe that she wouldn't kill you in two seconds flat if piqued.

"Hey, do you know if Shikimaru is coming tonight?" Naruto walked up to the women, smiling broadly at her pissed attitude. He knew she felt uncomfortable at these kinds of things, but he had kind of forced her to come. Plus, she enjoyed herself once she loosened up. After a few drinks.

"How the hell should I know that, Uzumaki?" The woman bristled, making Naruto laugh.

"Just wondering. Since you guys are always talking together-"

"That's because he's the only one who's not boring or _insane _in our whole office, boss. No offense." Letting out a final sigh, Temari moved away, hitting a nearby man on the head with her clutch for staring a little too long at the neckline of her dress.

Chuckling, Naruto turned back to the entering guests, taking up his position as welcoming host. It wasn't long before he recognized another of the employees in his main department, causing him to smile. Hinata looked lovely in a blue silk gown that flowed around her ankles, bringing out the lushness of her dark hair and beauty of her pale eyes. Looking at them, however, made Naruto's heart hurt a little. They looked a little too similar to another set…

"Hey, Hinata! I love your dress!" He tried to be as jovial as possible, smiling at her deep blush, but he knew that he could never get it completely right when he was in a gloomy mood. "Say… You wouldn't happen to know if…"

Hinata smiled sadly, interrupting Naruto's embarrassed inquiry. "Sorry, I think my cousin has a meeting to go to tonight. I don't think he's going to make it." She was kind enough not to add that Hyuuga Neji wouldn't have gone to his party even if it was the last area not overrun by crazed zombies, and there was a huge mob of the living dead moaning for his brains.

Really, Naruto couldn't understand why Neji hated him so much. Sure, he sent him love notes. Who didn't, to the ones they loved? And sure, Neji might be about as straight as they come (or so he said; Naruto could never quite believe it, what with the length of his hair and all), but did that mean that he had to be so conservative in his actions and emotions?

Of course not.

Feeling a gloomy raincloud form over his head, Naruto said a sad goodbye to Hinata, who was looking distressed at her boss's apparent sadness, and wandered over to one of the tables, sitting down all by himself.

Damn. The party just started, and he was already feeling lousy.

Naruto had never really worried about his sexuality before he met Neji. He had been with girls up until that point, but that wasn't because he had a strong dislike of going out with guys. He had just never been attracted to them before.

But once he met Neji… Everything had changed.

Ever since about three years ago, all of Naruto's friends could officially say that they knew a man who was utterly gay. Once Naruto had set eyes on Neji, he realized that he could never go back to loving women. He just couldn't.

He had met the man at one of these parties, incidentally. Hinata had recently been installed into Naruto's close working circle, and she was feeling nervous about going to the ball alone. It also might have had something to do with the fact that her family would never let her out of the house any time after seven o'clock without a chaperone. Whichever.

Anyways, Neji had come along, and it had been love at first sight. For Naruto, at least. And yet all of his advances were spurned by a growingly agitated Neji. Naruto felt a little like he was taking part in Romeo and Juliet… Except that, when that happened, they had both simultaneously fallen in love. The story didn't go "Romeo saw Juliet, and he fell instantly in love… But Juliet just ended up hating his guts."

Although there was that thing with Rosalind…

Naruto decided to stop dwelling on Shakespearean side-plots.

Hearing some light footsteps approaching him, Naruto looked up, before groaning softly. Illuminated by the bold lighting, one of his interviewees from a few days ago was walking in, heading straight towards where he was sitting. It wasn't really fair to sigh at her appearance, but he couldn't imagine a worse mood she could have found him in. He recognized her slightly, but for the life of him couldn't remember her name. Something to do with Peter Pan…?

She was smiling flirtatiously at him, swaying gracefully from side to side as she walked. She had on a floor-length gown of deep gold, tight against her skin and every curve of her body. The strapless gown showed off her shoulders and chest, while her dark brown hair was pinned up in curls and accentuated her neck. A sparkling necklace, adorned with numerous strings of crystal, rested softly against her throat.

Naruto had at first been optimistic about inviting the interviewees to the ball. Although they were not technically employees (although he hardly followed that rule anyway; a bunch of his close friends were milling around the ball room as well) he thought it would be a good time to let them meet their possible fellow employees, as well as having a change for him to get to know them better. However, in the mood he was in, he didn't know if it had been such a good idea anymore.

The woman was upon him, smiling and holding out a hand. He returned the smile and took the offered hand in his own, bringing it up to his lips to kiss it. The woman giggled, and it took him a lot to keep back a groan. Even as she began to speak, he couldn't keep the image of a pair of pale eyes against creamy skin out of his mind.

"Thank you so much for the opportunity you've given me!" She smiled, and Naruto remembered the reason he had kept her- it was because of the energy that she seemed to exert from every pore of her body. Whether that was exactly what he was looking for, he didn't know. But he wanted to reward her effort.

He still couldn't remember her name, though.

"I hope you enjoy the party." He smiled back, moving his hand away from her own. He was surprised when she kept her fingers grasped in his. Confused, he looked up, to see her still smiling.

"I'm sure I will. I notice that you aren't dancing." _No shit, Sherlock, _Naruto couldn't help but think internally. _I'm talking to you. _"Can I have the honor of having your first dance?"

Naruto was a little perturbed. First of all, the manner of her asking him was a little strange. Not that he was against female rights or anything, but he had believed that most females would have liked the man to lead in this kind of situation. Secondly, he had had no intention of dancing with anyone until at least an hour into the party. There were still guests arriving. Thirdly… Well, he actually couldn't come up with a third reason. But he was sure that if he could have, it would have been good.

He was just about to politely turn down her offer when he heard a commotion by the entryway. Looking around the Peter Pan woman, his eyes took a moment to search for the source of the noise. Finally, he was able to see that the murmuring crowd was encircling a girl, who appeared to be looking rather uncomfortable. She turned her head, and when Naruto was able to get a good look at her face, he recognized her immediately.

Her thick, raven-dark hair would have been hard to mistake. But if he hadn't noticed that feature, he would have been able to remember her from her dark, smoky eyes, and the aristocratic tilt of her nose, lips, and eyebrows. He stared for a moment, taking in her appearance.

She had apparently gone out of her way to style her hair for this occasion. It was glossy and curled about halfway down her chest, thick locks of hair that swayed with her every movement. There were various gold pins and adornments in her hair, adding a gleam of light whenever she moved. Her makeup accentuated the power in her cheekbones and eyes, a mixture of black and gray. But what caught the eye the most was her dress- a modest mountain of frills, alternating black and red, that swayed out from her fitted bodice. Her gloves went all the way up her arms, and her shoulders were covered by a chic, small laced jacket, matching perfectly with her gown. She was beautiful, in a traditional, refined manner, accentuated by the way she moved- dignified, a princess. (1)

Naruto hadn't realized that he'd been staring until she turned around to face him. She seemed surprised to see him standing there, and they were both caught in each other's gazes for several moments. Naruto had the distinct impression that the rest of the room had quieted down a few notches, as if they were in their own bubble.

Then, he smiled warmly, and waved her over.

She looked a little flustered, and while she was walking, Naruto couldn't help but notice a slightly red tint about her cheeks. Once she was in ear range, he began talking.

"You look so _cute_, Suki!"

She stopped abruptly, a little bewildered by his outcry. Naruto rushed forward and gasped appreciatively at the fabric as he held a frill in his hands. It was just as light and airy as it looked! "I'm so glad you came! Where on earth did you get your dress?"

She looked a little dazed. "Um… I don't know. A friend of mine bought it."

Naruto sighed, wishing he knew the designer. "What do you think of the party? Nice place, right?"

The woman looked around the room, taking in the chandelier, the huge windows, and the dance floor. After a moment, she let out a breathy "hn." Naruto could feel his eyebrow twitching, but he let it pass.

"Oh! I'm not sure if you know one of our other contestants." He turned around to face the Peter Pan girl. "Suki, this is…" He suddenly remembered that he didn't remember her name.

"Wendy," the woman said, looking as if she had just eaten an entire lemon.

"Yes, of course! Wendy." Naruto could remember her now. He hadn't been quite sure about whether to invite her or not, but when it came down to all of the contestants, she had at least shown a little more personality than the rest.

Really, he hadn't been sure about any of the girls he had invited tonight. After they had all completed their interviews, he sat in the makeshift office, thinking. Who had really caught his attention?

Immediately, he thought of the raven-haired girl with the dark black eyes. He pushed it away immediately, feeling his blood boil just thinking about her.

But after he had found the other two, he couldn't help but go back to her. Sure, she didn't hold one of the key characteristics that he was looking for: friendly, and _willing_ to be his friend. But maybe… Maybe they could work around it. Maybe she was a person who you had to crack the shell of before she would be able to become close. And he grinned at the challenge.

Suki smiled at Wendy, and Naruto missed the evilness behind the smirk. He also missed the returned glare, instead turning around to wave at Kiba, who was walking by with a bun in his mouth. The man just grunted in response, shaking his head when Naruto motioned for him to come over. Kiba hated meeting the interviewees until they became actual employees.

Turning back to his two guests, Naruto gave them both a smile. "Well, I hope you enjoy yourselves. Have fun!" He was about to walk away, when he felt a light but determined hand on his arm.

"But, Naruto…" Wendy pouted. "I asked if you'd like to dance with me. Are you going to leave me all alone now?"

Naruto turned to the dance floor, musing. The music had started up about 15 minutes ago, and by this time there were a fair amount of dance partners on the floor. He didn't really feel like dancing, but he knew that he couldn't refuse her now. Holding back a sigh, he took her hand in his, trying to smile.

"All right. Please excuse us, Suki." Smiling again at the girl, Naruto lead Wendy to the dance floor. Stealing a glance over his shoulder, Naruto watched Suki glance around at the ballroom, looking just as uncomfortable as before. He felt a pang in his chest, wishing that he could return to her side.

* * *

"Don't you think this is a little cruel?"

Naruto had been able to excuse himself after the second dance with Wendy, and although she had pouted, he had been able to escape in the confusion of the crowd. He had found Temari fairly easily, standing on the sidelines and appearing a little more relaxed with a martini in her hand. At her question, Naruto turned towards her, confused.

"I mean with the girls you invited here, for the position." She waved her hand at Wendy, trying to start up a conversation with a disinterested Ino. "You're showing them to all of the people at our company, making them feel like they belong with them. Then, poof! You take the carrot away from two of them, and they have to go back to their normal lives." She took a sip of her drink, staring at him over the rim with lined, amused eyes. "Seems a little cruel, don't you think?"

Naruto felt his face fall, mimicking his heart. "I…. I didn't…."

She smiled, rubbing him on the shoulder. "I know you didn't mean to. Your cluelessness is part of your charm." Turning away, she gave Naruto a final pat before sauntering over to a late-arriving Shikamaru. The blonde was left feeling even worse than before.

Deciding against remaining alone on the outskirts of the dance floor, he instead turned and made his way towards the refreshment table. On his way, he passed Kiba leading a blushing Hinata to the dance floor. He grinned, realizing with delight that there might be something behind this new development.

He was just stepping up to the dessert table when he noticed a familiar head of raven hair beside the punch. Turning to get a better look, he confirmed it to be Suki, staring pensively at a glass of red punch in her hands. Smiling, Naruto moved through the crowd, lightly touching her shoulder when he got within distance. She started, twisting her head to the side with wide eyes. He was bewildered to see the fear in their depths, and he held up his hands, smiling and trying to ease up the situation.

"Hey, sorry. Just me." He grinned. "How are you liking the party?"

She stared at him for a few moments, her face composing. Then she turned back to her glass of punch. "It's fine."

"Did I interrupt you in the middle of a thought or something?" Against his better judgment, Naruto felt a little pang of disappointment at her lack of a response. She turned back to look at him, startled.

"No! I mean…. Yes. I didn't-" she looked into his eyes for a moment, and he felt something lurch in his stomach at the uncertainty that he saw there. "I didn't mean to be rude."

He grinned, happy that he could alleviate the tension. "Think nothing of it. Parties can be a drag, I get it." He waited for a response, but instead, she turned away again, glancing at the punch bowl while biting her lower lip.

_What a difference from the last time we saw each other. _Looking at the girl before him now, he could hardly believe it was the same one that had yelled at him just a few days before. That girl had had a fire burning deep in her eyes. This one just seemed lost and bewildered, and he was surprised at how deeply the need to help her find the way back latched inside himself.

At an impulse, he took her hand in his, feeling the shiver of shock run through her body as she turned in surprise. "Can I ask for a dance with you?" He was suddenly nervous, not knowing her response. After a few moments, her lips quirked up at the corners.

"I don't know. Can you?"

He laughed, suddenly feeling his heart lighten. "Wrong phrasing. But may I?"

"Sure." After his past experiences with the girl, Naruto had the distinct impression that her smirk was the closest she ever got to a smile, and he returned it. Taking a firmer hold on her hand, he turned and gently led her through the crowd, feeling her palm against his own.

A waltz had just begun as they reached the dance floor. Suki appeared a little uncomfortable as Naruto placed his other hand on her hip, but eventually touched her own free hand to his shoulder. Taking the lead, Naruto began the dance, noticing with a bit of irritation that Suki was a few inches taller than him, especially with her heels.

He laughed at her jerky motions. "Really, Suki. Have you never danced before? _I _lead_._" She glared at him, but visibly made an effort to correct her stance. After a few moments of staring at her feet, she looked up again.

"Why did you ask me here?"

"Because I felt like it," he replied, a little put off by her question.

"I mean-" she backpedalled, and Naruto saw that she was angry that she was doing so. "Thank you for giving me another chance. But…. Why? I thought you never wanted to see me again."

He stared into her face for a few moments, still turning to the waltz, before slowly smiling. "Of course I wanted to see you again." He hadn't known until this moment that the statement was true. "Sure, I wanted to throw something at you when we met. But that doesn't mean I didn't take a liking to you."

She looked a little startled at his response. Instead of commenting, she changed topics. "Who's the man on the poster?"

Naruto laughed again, knowing that she meant the picture on his makeshift office door. "His name's Hyuuga Neji." His response sparked a surprised look in Suki's eyes.

"What, the famous publisher?"

"The very one. He's my one and only love." Naruto sighed dreamily, forgetting for a moment the girl in his arms. An aching longing swelled in his heart, and he blinked his eyes, pain drawing his face into a sagging frown. He remembered the raven-haired woman again, and looked over into her face, feeling a little embarrassed. "Sorry."

"It's alright." She was quiet for a few moments, following his leading as they moved across the dance floor. "It looks like he causes you pain." Her statement was blunt.

"Well, yes, I guess unrequited love does cause you pain." He smiled weakly. Her face remained stoic and serious.  
"I shouldn't say anything, but isn't there a better way to find love?"

He stared at her for a moment, a little bewildered. The woman before him looked like the last person who would give someone advice on a relationship. "Well…"

"I mean, if you're going to put in enough energy to love someone, shouldn't it be someone that returns the gift?"

"It doesn't always work that way." He smiled. "What an odd question. Have you never been in love before, Suki?"

Her cheeks flushed a pretty pink, and she looked away from him, a frown embedding itself in the crevices of her forehead. He laughed.

"You don't have to answer that. But…" Naruto smiled at how strange the situation was. "Sometimes… it's worth hurting for." In the back of his mind, he registered that the music had stopped, and he finished the dance as well, gracefully leading Suki to the ending pose. They stayed still for a moment, watching each other. Suki's dark eyes seemed distant, almost confused. As she blinked slowly, Naruto noticed how thick her eyelashes were, straying across the pale skin of her cheekbone.

"Anyways." He laughed awkwardly, reaching a hand around to rub the back of his head. "Didn't mean to bore you there."

"No, it wasn't boring. I… I'm a little tired, actually. I might head home. Thank you for the dance." She looked tired, but was able to give the semblance of a smile. Naruto was beginning to believe that this was the best that she could ever give.

"Oh. Well, I hope you had a good time!" He returned the smile, beaming. She turned away, and he felt a small lump in his throat form as her fingers fell through his own.

"Wait, Suki!" He called it softly, but even though she was several steps into the crowd, she turned around, face held high with a questioning look. The dim lights from the chandeliers above caught off of the angles of her face, and for a moment he was captivated in the charcoal depths of her eyes once more, gazing at the thin ring of red.

"How does seven sound?"

"Seven?" She was even more confused, and he smiled.

"Seven, Monday morning. Can you make it to work?"

After a split second, Suki's face broke into the first true smile Naruto had seen yet. She nodded quickly, and in a split second she was gone, lost in the crowd. He gazed at the spot she had just been occupying, lost in the memory of her smile.

* * *

(1) BWAH HA HA HA Sasuke is getting a Cinderella moment, and he doesn't even want it! XD

**Haha! It took soooo long for me to write this, and it's still not the best quality. But it must be kind of annoying listening to me complain about myself every chapter. I'm trying to stop, I truly am! **

**Is this strange? Does something not make sense? Please, if you notice something, tell me! I really don't want to scare any reader off of the storyline by something silly like writing style or OOCness. So please tell me!**

**Also. I realize when I read over my previous chapters that… they're not really at the quality level that I hoped they would be, and I'd really like any second opinions on my work. I've just been lazy and haven't really looked around for a beta, but if any of my wonderful readers would like to take a shot at it, I'd be really happy! **

***Twelfth Night Corner***

**I don't really have anything to comment on this chapter in particular; however, I do have a problem that I have encountered a couple of chapters from now. I don't really like the character I've found for Malvolio. I'm capable of writing the character myself, and I now it probably sounds annoying for a writer to be asking for help, but if you have any suggestions for who you think would be a good Malvolio, that would be great! Hee, again, sorry for my babbling if you haven't read Twelfth Night! **


	11. Chapter X

**I'm on CHAPTER 10! I can't believe it! I know that I'm not the best at updating, but it feels like such a short time to me since I started this fic. And nothing has really happened yet! Go me. Also, longest chapter as of now! :)**

**I realize that I probably shouldn't have let the space between my chapters become so disastrously long. -.- Recap: Party. Naruto and Sasuke got to know each other better. Invited to work on Monday at 7. I think that's it… **

**Disclaimer: Naruto is NOT mine. I know, real shocker there.**

* * *

**Chapter X**

Getting up for work wasn't that difficult, Sasuke noticed. Even though he had hardly gotten a few blinks of sleep the night before, he jumped out of bed as soon as his alarm rang at 4:00 (although he would never have admitted jumping out of bed in his life). Quickly padding over to the bathroom, he stripped and turned on the water, waiting for it to heat up. Once under the hot spray, he closed his eyes, relaxing.

He didn't know what had kept him up last night; he had never had much trouble before. Maybe it was because he had been sleeping in a new house. However, this theory was weak, as he had been staying with Kakashi for almost a week now, and could almost feel at home here, as strange as it sounded.

The gray-haired man had been happy that Sasuke got the job, but not surprised. From what he could see of his face, Sasuke noticed with a fair amount of annoyance that he was almost making fun of Sasuke for ever losing faith in the man's brilliant plan. As if it wasn't the weirdest and most haphazard thing that he had ever heard of.

Even with this annoyance, however, Sasuke couldn't stop a thrill of excitement for the upcoming day of work from flooding through his system. Really, he shouldn't be this ecstatic about starting work. But he had been cooped up by himself with only the occasional company of two complete weirdos for the last few days, and _anything _sounded good, even if it was getting up at the crack of dawn and wearing girl clothes all day.

Which reminded him… He sighed, lathering his spiky black hair with a final dollop of conditioner. He wouldn't have known it before, but he actually missed the comfort of wearing his _own_ hair throughout the day. The wig was heavy and hot; he had no idea how girls put up with all of that hair all of the time. Even with all of the duck butt comments he got from his brother, he actually liked his hair.

After turning off the showerhead, stepping out, and toweling off, he began the long process of getting ready. His wig, while sturdy and maneuverable, still took some time to put on and set. Females took a longer time getting ready than males, as well. Even when he had to dress up in his old life, he never put as much time or effort in as when he had to create the perfect image that he was going for as a female. He had given up trying to save his masculinity about Day 2 of Operation Female, and decided on quietly putting his bleeding male heart in a corner to mourn while he curled his eyelashes.

* * *

Before he left the house, Sasuke was stopped by Kakashi, standing serenely against the door while also inconveniently blocking it. Sasuke wasn't in the best of moods, since he had just realized that he was actually getting quite good at putting makeup on. He glowered at the silver-haired man with a glare that could have melted steel, crossing his arms over his chest and tapping his fingers angrily.

"What do you want?" He might have felt bad for always scowling at the man who saved his life, but he had lost that sympathy after all of the occasions that the guy didn't seem to even give a damn. Instead of shying away from the famous Uchiha glare, which was known to produce tears from small children, the man only smiled.

"Good morning, Sasuke!" The raven raised an eyebrow. _Good _wasn't really the word he would use to describe this morning. His mouth twisted into a frown, clearing stating 'get to the point'_._

Completely ignoring Sasuke's sour mood, Kakashi went on to pull out some things from a bag on the counter. First thing was a wallet, black. "Here. Inside is an ID and some cash."

Sasuke raised his eyebrow again. "Not a real ID, I presume."

Kakashi grinned under his mask. "Of course not." He flipped open the wallet with one quick movement, scanning the first card inside with humor. "You can't leave work without this, Miss Satou Suki."

Sasuke grabbed the wallet, muttering a thanks under his breath while trying to keep the red from his cheeks. It was going to be hell, learning to live with being called by another name. And a female one, at that. He was about to ask how Kakashi had even gotten a fake ID, but decided against it, seeing as he was probably better off not knowing.

The next thing didn't make sense at first. It was a cylinder of some kind, but he couldn't read the label from the way Kakashi was holding it. The man tossed it over, and Sasuke caught it easily, turning it around to look at what it was.

His eyebrow twitched. "Pepper spray?"

"You're not used to being a girl."

"And you would know better?"

Kakashi grinned. "I just want you to be prepared. You're pretty attractive as a female, you know."

Sasuke shoved past him on the way to the door. "Stop sounding like such a creepy old man." He couldn't, however, keep a smile from his face as he exited the apartment, closing the door behind him.

* * *

Still a little faint of heart from the subway, Sasuke took another hard look at Uzumaki Investment Banking. It looked different, somehow, from the last time he had seen it. Maybe it was the time of day, since it was now about 6:45 in the morning and a foggy black. The building looked calm in the still morning air. Walking forward, Sasuke opened the building's glass doors, a sense of remembrance overtaking his senses at the reception area and busy workers moving about with their various businesses. It looked almost identical to the day he came for his interview: the same fleet-footed employees, the same gray business décor, the same potted plants and lighting and chairs. He was sure that the worker's coffee cups, which they were carrying even at two in the afternoon the last time he came, were now full of steaming coffee rather than cold, day-old liquid. Clearly, work started early here. For a moment he paused in the doorway, taking it in. Then he walked into the entranceway.

As he made his way up to the security desk, he tried to put on his best smile while hiding the exhaustion that was beginning to fall upon him already. The security guard, labeled DAVE on his tag, sleepily raised his eyes to meet Sasuke's, and immediately sat up straighter, suddenly alert. Sasuke tried not to roll his eyes. "Hi, I'm new. Is this where I check in…?" Feinting feminine insecurity and confusion, Sasuke felt like an idiot, but the security guard appeared to be lapping it up.

"Yeah, here's where you come." DAVE smiled. "ID?"

Sasuke gave it to him, keeping himself from fidgeting. This was yet another stage he had to pass in getting away with his identity. As casually as possible, Sasuke watched the security guard's face for any changes. There were none.

"Nice to have you working here, Miss Suki." Handing back Sasuke's card, he gave him yet another smile. "If there's anything you need help with, just ask."

"Okay…. Thanks." Sasuke wasn't really sure what he was supposed to say to the man's eager expression, and so said nothing, turning around and hiding a grimace.

After reading off the floor number from a lighted panel on the wall, Sasuke took the elevator up to the top floor. Made sense, since Naruto, as president, would want to work at the top. As the soft elevator music and soft hum cocooned him in sound, he mused about how on earth he would deal with working here if every other male acted like DAVE back at the security desk.

Once the elevator dinged and the doors slid open, however, Sasuke's eyebrows scrunched in confusion. The floor was completely quiet, with only the perpetual lights that stayed turned on all day and night illuminating the corridor. Sasuke paused in the elevator, staring at the lighted button panel. Had he pushed the right one?

Hesitantly, Sasuke exited the compartment, a bit disgruntled by how final the sound of the door sliding shut sounded. He took a few steps down the hallway. "Hello?" Nothing.

Coming up to the first door, he saw that it was a conference room, and peered in, wondering if this was where the missing employees/boss were. But everything was still dark in here as well, and still as silent as the grave. He passed on, coming to the door that appeared to lead to the offices. Trying the doorknob, he internally cursed when he felt the lock hold the glass door in place.

This was just great. Had he come here at the wrong time or something? Sasuke wracked his brains for his last encounter with Naruto. He had definitely said 7, and when Sasuke looked at his watch, he could see that it was just 6:55. Maybe they weren't there until 7 on the dot? He knew it was silly, but it was the only explanation he could gather. Sighing quietly, he slid down against the wall, dead tired. He would just have to wait.

* * *

A few moments later (or was it more?), Sasuke felt a light tap on his shoulder. He started up, eyes blinking open. "Whaaa?" Was about the best he could do, his mind fuzzy from sleep. He turned to see who had woken him.

An older man stared down at him. He had a blank expression on his face, and looked to be around forty. Focusing on his face, Sasuke noticed that, for some reason, he got the impression that the man was kind, and wise.

Or maybe it was just the sleep talking.

"Hello," Sasuke spoke up, making sure to keep his voice high enough. The man did not respond. "Um… I'm waiting for this office to open. I'm new."

The man now looked a little puzzled, with a hint of humor. Sasuke tried to work out the reason for this. "You work in this office?"

"Yes," Sasuke answered, trying to regain his composure. Looking at the man again, he saw that he was wearing a custodian's uniform, and had a cart of cleaning materials beside him.

The man definitely looked amused now. "The floor is locked during the weekends until work starts up Monday. I can open it up for you now, if you like."

"Yes, that would be great, thank you." Sasuke got to his feet, trying to wipe out the wrinkles of his blouse and dress pants. The janitor took out a chain with about three thousand keys jangling from it, caught one in his hand, and slid it into the glass door's lock. Sasuke could hear it click open, and gave a soft sigh of relief.

"Thank you so much." He gave his best impersonation of a smile, still a little weak in that area. The janitor nodded and quietly turned, walking away.

Once inside of the office, Sasuke glanced at his watch. The face stated that it was 8:02, and Sasuke glared at it, wondering what had gone wrong here. Looking around the office, he took in the desks, some packed into cubicles, others out in the open or spotted through more glass doors. He winced a little at the president's unmistakable impact on the office; hints of orange seemed to pop up everywhere, including the walls, pictures, decorations, and a stuffed frog glaring at him from the top of a bookcase. Still, everything was silent, and peaceful. He took an empty seat by a table, resting his arms on the wood surface. He sighed quietly, and looked at his watch. 8:03.

Where could everyone be?

* * *

Kakashi hummed to himself while he lazily stretched across his living room couch, a small orange book propped up on his chest. He took a leisurely sip of coffee. His boss hadn't given him an assignment today, so he presumed that the day was his, to be spent as he pleased. He gazed fondly at the book on his chest.

It had certainly been entertaining to see Sasuke go off to work this morning, female attire and evil glare firmly in place. He had no idea how Sasuke imagined making any friends with such a scary visage. How could anyone bear to work with him if always looked like he was about to tear out their throats?

Yet, somehow… Somehow Kakashi knew that there was something in there, some quality, that seemed to just draw people to the boy. And it wasn't just his looks; that wasn't what had drawn Kakashi to walk closer at the train station. He couldn't put his finger on the quality, exactly. But it was there.

Even only knowing the teenager for a week, Kakashi still felt a little pang of fatherliness when he saw Sasuke leave for his first day of work. His mouth pulled down into a frown at the remembrance of Sasuke's life story. How could such a young person deal with it?

The fact remained, however, that Sasuke _was _dealing. Even with the ridiculous disguise idea that Guy and himself had forced upon him. Smiling, Kakashi took another gulp of coffee. Yes, he would make it.

But why did he leave so early this morning?

* * *

Sasuke was about ready to throw something at the wall. He stared resolutely at the stuffed frog on the bookshelf, refusing to turn his gaze to the windows, his watch, or the clock on the wall. Instead, he held a glaring match with the toad, who, after the first hour of Sasuke's wait, had grown a character of his own in Sasuke's mind. He had named the amphibian Todd. Todd was getting on his last nerve.

_Come on, Sasuke, _Todd snickered. _Look at the clock. _

_No. _The man glared back at the frog, refusing to waver in his gaze.

_You know you want to. How much time has passed? An hour? Two?_

Sasuke hissed at the frog.

_Oh, now you're hissing, are you? Very mature. What would your brother say? _Before Sasuke could mentally tell him to shut up, the frog took up a startlingly accurate mimicry of Itachi. _'Are you a cat now, little brother? Should I get you a bowl of milk?'_

"Shut up," Sasuke bit out, before realized that it had been out loud. Then he covered his face with his hands. _I'm going insane. I knew it, dressing up as a girl would be the death of my sanity._

_If it makes you feel any better, you look very good in that blouse._

Sasuke's head shot up as he glanced around at something to throw at Todd. But as his head swiveled, he fatally turned towards the clock.

11:50. Impossible. Sasuke wracked his sleep-deprived mind, trying to remember when he had come here this morning. 6:45. And when had he woken up to get ready?

_4:00, _Todd snickered. Sasuke gave him the finger.

"Why are you flipping off a stuffed animal?"

Sasuke nearly jumped out of his seat, twisting his head around to look at the speaker. How had he missed the door opening? Beside him, looking down from her standing position with icy blue eyes, was a woman with hair the color of corn husks. It was pulled up into a strict, long ponytail, and her face was sternly made up with blue eye shadow and thick, black lashes.

"I…" Sasuke was lost for words. He had no idea how to explain. She let out an annoyed huff, waving her hand.

"Whatever. Trust Naruto to pick the weirdest applicant in the bunch." Letting out another huff, she tossed her purple purse against a desk near the table, slouching in her chair and checking her nails as she booted up her computer. Sasuke felt a little flummoxed. For one thing, he had completely missed her entrance, which was messing with his mind. For another, they hadn't even introduced each other, and Sasuke already had an instant dislike towards the woman.

"So when did you get here, anyway?" Still not looking at his face, the blonde woman nevertheless aimed the question at him, looking like she didn't even care if he answered. Angry, Sasuke glared at the woman.

"6:45."

She twisted her head to face him, her glassy blue eyes disbelieving. On seeing that he was completely serious, she threw back her head and cackled.

"Oh, wow! That's too much. That made my day." She wiped fake tears from her eyes, still chuckling. Sasuke felt like hitting her, his eyebrow twitching dangerously.

"And what, pray tell, is so funny?" Already, he felt a little like murdering the annoying blonde.

Her reply (if she was going to give one) was cut off by the opening of the door. Sasuke turned in his chair to see who it was.

It was another female, blue-black hair cropped around her chin. She looked almost frightened when she walked in, and a blush darkened her pale skin when she saw that there was someone new in the room.

"H… Hello," she murmured, face red. Sasuke gazed at her questioningly.

"Hello." He got up, holding out his hand in what he hoped was a feminine manner. "Nice to meet you. I'm Suki."

The black haired woman took his hand, and he marveled at how soft her skin was. "I'm… Hinata. I hope… You like working here…. Suki."

_Great, _he thought to himself. _So far, my coworkers are an insane lunatic, a sadistic bitch, and a woman who can't say anything without stuttering. _As Hinata was putting away her purse and booting up her own computer, the door opened again, and a large crowd of people bustled in. Sasuke glanced at the clock; it was 11:56.

In the lead was a brown haired man with red tattoos adorning his cheeks. When he saw Suki, his face lit up in a grin. "Hey! Are you the new secretary?" Sasuke could almost describe his face to be wolfish, except that there was no malice in it. He appeared to be about 6 feet tall, but not gangly; in fact, he seemed to have a certain agility about his movements. As Sasuke watched, a furry head poked its way out of the neck of his coat.

"Hey Akamaru, what do you think of the new girl? Looks like a handful, doesn't she?" He winked at Sasuke as the dog woofed, and the raven couldn't help but smirk a little. He seemed funny.

"Cut it out, Kiba. You'll scare her off." A woman with blonde hair in a pair of pigtails gripped one of the man's shoulders with a claw-like hand. Turning to Sasuke, he was swallowed in her dramatically lined green eyes, staring fiercely into his own. He would have said that they were haughty if they didn't hold a distinct amount of sarcasm in their depths, a darkly sour humor. Grinning snarkily, she put her other hand on her suited hip.

"Hey there, sorry about the nutcases. I'm Temari." She held out a hand, which Sasuke took. He liked her already. Contrasted with the other blonde woman completely. "I don't know if the others had enough courtesy to introduce themselves to you, but this here's Kiba. He loves dogs." She pointed to Hinata. "Hyuuga Hinata here is a bit shy. I'm sure you've noticed already?" A humorous quirk to her lips. Sasuke looked a little surprised at her surname, but realized that he _had _seen those pale, blue-white eyes somewhere- namely, on Naruto's poster.

"That's Ino. She's a royal pain in the ass, but she's fun. Sometimes." The blonde, Ino, stuck out her tongue at Temari, but Sasuke got the feeling that the two got along, somehow. He couldn't believe the _fun _comment, however.

"And this here's Shikamaru." Temari grabbed the arm of the man behind her, dragging him to the forefront. Sasuke remembered him immediately, and it appeared that the other man did too, as he lifted his hooded, sleepy eyes into the semblance of a surprised look.

"Hey, it's you! The crying girl from the subway!" Sasuke blushed at the description, glaring at the man for giving away such delicate information. However, Shikamaru didn't appear to think that he had done anything wrong, as he shed a languid smile. "Can I assume that this was the job that you 'lost'?" Sasuke grudgingly nodded.

Shikamaru was about to say something else when his gaze fell on the wall clock, making his eyes widen. "Oh, shit!" Using energy that Sasuke would never have guessed that he possessed, the man leaped around the table obstructing his way, making a beeline to a desk whose wall was covered with stuck-on clouds. Everyone else leapt into action as well, yelling for everyone to get out of their way while they raced to various work spaces across the office. Sasuke was left stunned at the table, wondering what on earth had gotten them so unraveled.

Just as Temari leapt into her office chair, Sasuke heard the glass door open. He turned around to see a blonde head poke through, followed closely by a smiling, tan face and two balloons. As soon as the face entered the room, it erupted in a huge smile, emphasized by the man's sparkling blue eyes.

"Look at all of you, working hard! You know, it never ceases to amaze me how focused you all are on work. Even though I get here at noon, I can always count on you coming in here on time at seven." He beamed, standing in the doorway. Sasuke could have almost smiled at how funny he looked, smiling adoringly at the solemn, nodding faces before him while trying to get through the doorway with the balloons in one hand and a briefcase in the other. Eventually Sasuke got to his feet, walking over to help the blonde. Upon seeing him, Naruto smiled.

"Ah! And here is our newest addition! How goes it, Miss Suki?" Nodding in thanks for Sasuke's help, Naruto was able to get through the door, placing his briefcase on the table and turning back to smile at Sasuke, handing him the balloons. "These are for you. Welcome!"

Not sure what to say, Sasuke just looked at the balloons. "Hn."

"Is that really all you can say?" Naruto pouted, before erupting in another smile. "Never fear, your bad attitude will not get me down! We'll just have to work on your vocabulary!" Picking up his briefcase again, Naruto began walking towards a glassed-in office, before stopping and turning back around. "Well, since you've been here for a while with my lovely workers, I guess you've already gotten the tour?"

Sasuke tried not to outright glare at the others in the room. "Not exactly."

"Well then! I'll just have to give you one of my own! Right this way, Miss Suki!" Weaving his free arm through Sasuke's, Naruto started off at a lively pace around the office. Sasuke could only try to hang on for dear life and ignore the prickling feeling all along his arm from where Naruto was touching him.

* * *

**So, what do you think? Who's your favorite character? How is Sasuke's disguise holding up? What IS Kakashi's job? And is Naruto being WAYY too over-exuberant?**

**Haha, I hope you enjoyed! Please give me feedback, I'd love to see what you liked/didn't like!**


	12. Chapter XI

**Chapter XI**

When Sasuke opened the door of Kakashi's apartment, he wasn't too surprised to see the gray-haired man leaning against one of the living room walls, a large smile evident under his mask.

"Sasuke, hello! How was your first day at work?"

Sasuke moodily glared at him. "Hn." Draping his jacket over one of the wing chairs, he was then quick to remove his heels from his feet, before padding across the carpet to the hallway leading to his room. Once inside, he removed all articles of clothing with haste, wrinkling his nose in distaste. He could _never _get used to wearing this stuff. He wiped off his face quickly in front of the bathroom mirror, before putting on a t-shirt and jeans that Guy had given him. _I should have known, _Sasuke growled to himself, trying to tug up some of the tightest jeans that he had ever seen in his life, _that he wouldn't have given me any _normal _clothes. God forbid._

At least all of his clothes were dark, the shirt a midnight blue with patterns he couldn't identify, the jeans a grayish-black. He had been around so much orange today that he could almost feel the color burned onto his eyeballs.

When he came back into the living room, a little more comfortable than when he had left it, Sasuke fell with a sigh onto the chair that held his jacket. Kakashi was in the same spot as when Sasuke had left the room, and still appeared to be looking for a response to his question about work. The teenager sighed again.

"Don't ask."

* * *

"This is yours!" Naruto gesticulated at the desk before him, in much the same level of excitement which he had held for the entire tour. Sasuke wasn't sure how he was supposed to respond to the excessive energy, and he had given up trying to contribute to the conversation, using all of his energy in trying to follow the blonde's path of speech.

It looked like a nice enough desk. It was near the back of the office area, near the window, which was a plus. Besides Naruto, whose glassed-in office Sasuke now directly resided beside as the head's secretary, Shikamaru was his closest neighbor. Temari and Hinata were closer than Ino and Kiba, who took up the other end of the office space.

Before the revealing of the desk, Naruto had led Sasuke around the various copy rooms, staff meeting areas, and snack machines. While walking, Naruto had outlined Sasuke's main job requirements as secretary, although these ideas appeared trivial in the blond's mind compared to the task of touring the office. Sasuke had to admit while listening to the man that he wasn't the complete dumb blond that he appeared to be; contrary to his assumptions, it seemed as if the man might actually have a semi-working brain on his shoulders. Once focused on the tour, he was actually able to link sentences together in an understandable manner, and his speech was much more precise and cultured than what Sasuke had believed.

However, this did not mean that he was any less annoying.

"Seriously, do you ever _calm down_?"

Naruto pouted over his shoulder at Sasuke, which made the raven blush against his will. He marveled at the power that the man had with just a slight quirk of his lips, and then wanted to hit himself over the head.

"Aw, and here I thought it was part of my charm." Turning back around, the man continued on with the tour, leaving a confused Sasuke in his wake. The raven glared at his retreating form, biting his bottom lip. This wasn't good. The change in setting had clearly upset Sasuke's balance, and he still wasn't thinking straight, if he actually _blushed _at something that a _guy_ did.

Musing on the cause of this reaction made Sasuke think back to the employee ball, and how most of the night was just a kind of fuzzy blur to him. Sure, he could remember some of the main events- getting there, meeting up with Wendy (he gritted his teeth just thinking about her), dancing with Naruto- so at least he knew he wasn't drugged or anything. But there was a certain dream-like quality to the entire evening. Maybe it started with the way Naruto ran up to him and fawned over his dress. He looked pretty _excited _about the thing. Sasuke had barely thought about it at all, besides the fact of how uncomfortable and embarrassing it was to wear it. It was safe to say that he had never imagined that his soon-to-be employer would take an interest in it.

Sasuke had never really been a self-conscious person before, at least not to a strong degree. Growing up in his family allowed for a sense of security, for all that he complained about it. But this shift into a new life still had his head spinning. Clearly, he couldn't acclimate. And as much as he wanted to just shrug it off, standing solo in that ballroom, he had never felt so alone.

And then… there had been Naruto. Sasuke, if anything, was _not _a sentimental person. But he couldn't help but feel some kind of gratitude to the blonde man, for removing him from his thoughts at the punch bowl, and effectively keeping his attention by babbling away about the "love of his life". He would have scoffed at the man, but somehow… maybe it was the look in the blonde's eyes, but he appeared to be attached to this _idea _of being completely in love, even from the few encounters that Sasuke had had with him.

His moment-long musings were cut off when Naruto turned around to face him, a confused look on his face. "Suki?"

"Coming." Pushing down a strange feeling in his chest, Sasuke reactivated his legs, forcing them to follow the blonde.

* * *

"Come on. It couldn't have been that bad."

Sasuke glared at Kakashi. "Okay. First I want you to think of me. Now I want you to think of Naruto. Do you really think, ever in a _million years, _that he and I could ever get along?"

"Oh, come now. Don't exaggerate." Kakashi laughed, dodging the pillow thrown at his head. "Naruto's a good kid."

"What does he have, ADHD? It's like he's incapable of staying still for two seconds." Sasuke got up from his seat, padding over to the kitchen where he opened the refrigerator. Peering inside, he took out a yogurt, pulling off the lid and licking it moodily. "I don't even _want _to know how he organizes his schedule. God, this job's going to be difficult."

"I know he looks like an idiot most of the time, but he's really a pretty smart individual. He graduated early as well, you know. Maybe not as early as you, but he's a bit of a young genius himself." Kakashi leaned back against the couch. "He had to be, to take over his father's position as president at such a young age."

"Yeah, what's up with that?" Sasuke walked back into the living room, plopping down on the wing chair while putting his feet up. Kakashi turned his head to look at Sasuke licking yogurt off of his spoon.

"Feet off the table, please." Sasuke stuck his tongue out. "And as for the reason… I think you should wait, to ask him."

"Ask him?" Sasuke raised his eyebrow, feeling an uncomfortable churning in his stomach, as if he already knew that there was something terrible mixed up in Naruto's response.

"Yes, I think that would be best. Ask him when you know him better, and I'm sure he'll tell you." Kakashi reached down to where he had dropped his little orange Icha Icha book, breaking Sasuke's concentration. The teen rolled his eyes, having already caught a glimpse at what was inside and wishing to God that he hadn't.

"Like that'll ever happen." Sasuke, having finished his yogurt, got up from his seat and tossed it in the garbage bin, before walking back to his room, already looking forward to a quiet nap before dinner.

* * *

Sasuke's mind floated in and out of consciousness. He knew that he should be sleeping, but something was holding him back. Quite possibly it was the events of his first day at work, nagging at him even though he'd been up since 3:30 that morning. Sighing, Sasuke leaned against his wall, running through his memories and trying to find the one that was bothering him.

_"So what's your history, Suki?" Temari sipped her coffee from a mug adorned with the words BITE ME. She was leaning back in a chair in the staff room, sitting across from Sasuke. Looking around, Sasuke saw that almost everyone else was also in the break room, either sipping coffee or in the process of getting food. The strange thing was that it wasn't even lunch break. And yet, everyone except Naruto was crowded around the table that Sasuke was sitting at, looking both interested and like they had nothing better to do._

_ Sasuke tried to force a laugh, knowing that the lack of practice wouldn't make it sound any more realistic. "Nothing much. I'm pretty boring."_

_ "Really." Temari sipped her coffee again, analyzing the raven with quizzical eyes. Sasuke immediately felt a chill run down his spine. Her eyes looked a little too clever for him. He turned around, randomly choosing Kiba to detract from any more questions to him._

_ "And… What about you? I see you like… dogs."_

_ "Hell yeah!" Kiba did a fist pump, while the white splotched dog at his feet gave out a sharp yip. "This is Akamaru, by the way. You'll probably see him a lot, unless the boss's cat is around. Man, you've never seen a dog so afraid of a cat!" The man laughed, loudly, like a wolf. It didn't seem to matter to the man if Sasuke didn't know what to say, as he kept on babbling. And this was perfectly fine to Sasuke. He sat back in his chair, letting the man's rambles drown the conversation._

_ "Kiba, I think that's quite enough. I doubt Suki here cares about your dog." Shikamaru huffed out a sigh, turning his head to the side. "How troublesome."_

_ "Yeah, Kiba! Shut the hell up!" Even Ino had joined the group, although rather grudgingly. "Nobody wants to hear about your life!"_

_ "I-I didn't t-think it was t-that bad," Hinata spoke up from her seat, her face becoming a deeper and deeper shade of red. The rest of the table turned to her, incredulous at her auditory remark. "I-I mean… I d-don't mind."_

_ More staring. Then, Kiba erupted in a huge smile, aimed straight at the black-haired woman. "Thanks, Hinata!" His grin was a toothy one, but Sasuke was rather interested to find that there was a certain tenderness in it. _

_ Before he began to figure out what this could mean, however, the door to the staff room burst open, and the boss made his entrance. "You lazy slackers! I thought I would find you all in here!" Everyone glanced lazily at their boss, who had his hands on his hips and a frown on his face. Clearly, no one found the spectacle very interesting, as they turned back to face each other and continue talking._

_ Sasuke, although he had been fallowing the blonde around all day, had not gotten the chance to really look at the man before him, and so this was the first chance he got to take him in. It still amazed him how… bright he was. It wasn't just his hair- it was something about his presence, overwhelming and full of light. He stood with his weight shifted slightly to his left, lips pursed in a crooked smile, with some kind of essence simply exuding from him. Sasuke would have found it uncomfortable if it wasn't such a pleasant feeling, to just be near the man…_

_ "Suki, are you alright?" _

_ Sasuke started up in his chair, eyes open wide. How had he missed Naruto walking over to stand right in front of him? The man had leaned down, and his deep blue eyes were currently inches from Sasuke's own. The raven blushed angrily, leaning back in his chair._

_ "Ever heard of personal space, dobe?" To hide his embarrassment, Sasuke snarled out his response, watching as Naruto's eyes sharpened in anger._

_ "Ever heard of manners, teme?" Naruto hissed. Sasuke returned the glare, egging him on. The blonde was just about to let out another retort when Tamari coughed loudly, causing both men to face her._

_ "Could you guys keep it down or something? There are other people here, you know." Rolling her eyes, Tamari went back to her coffee, leaving two very uncomfortable men staring at each other. Looking around, Sasuke saw that the others held varying amounts of annoyance or amusement on their faces. Kiba appeared like he was about to burst out laughing, while Hinata was looking down at her hands. Shikamaru looked like he didn't give a damn. Ino was glaring daggers at Sasuke, which was mildly confusing. Sighing, the raven turned back to the blonde before him, who also seemed to have calmed down. _

_ "Well, anyways. Get back to work you guys, or I'll bust all of your asses." Naruto gave a poor imitation of a hard glare, which only made all of the employees smirk. _

_ "And Suki-" Sasuke immediately turned towards him, watching the man in his path towards the staff room door. "Don't make me want to fire you on your first day."_

_ Sasuke made his signature smirk, feigning innocence. "But think about how lonely you would be without my helpful critiques."_

_ Naruto turned around at the door and stuck out his tongue. "Be glad you're cute, or I'd have kicked you out before you even walked in the door." Dodging an empty Styrofoam cup, Naruto closed the door, laughing softly. Sasuke glared at the door, blushing softly. _What an idiot. I can't stand him.

Somewhere among his memories, Sasuke had closed his eyes once more, and drifted off into an easy sleep, eyes beset with the image of laughing blue eyes.


	13. Chapter XII

**Hey, lovely readers! Words can't express how sorry I feel about my long absence. :( I feel really awful about it, and hope that you can remember this story enough to pick it up again… Thank you, lovely people, for sticking with this story! ^^**

**Sorry for the shortness. Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter XII**

"It's the first day of May."

Tsunade glanced over at her companion, pen bobbing from her mouth. She was in Jiraiya's office, refusing to leave until he completed his scheduled work for today, so help her god. Jiraiya would never telld her this, but he didn't actually mind the company. This didn't, however, stop him from annoying her at every chance he got.

Tsunade growled warningly. "Jiraiya, I am in this office because your ass is on the line for this deadline. I have to do all of my normal work _here_, in this office, which I don't need to tell you is a huge inconvenience. So, unless you stop blurting out completely irrelevant facts about the date, I will hit you so hard, you'll be cross-eyed until next Tuesday."

Jiraiya smiled crookedly, completely ignoring her threat. "Loosen up, you old bat. It's May. It's spring. The season of love," he clarified, dodging a dangerous punch to the head.

"Jiraiya, get to work on your damn manuscript, or-"

"Relax! I'm working, I'm working." He brought his hand up to hold his chin, musing. "It's just a time to get inspiration, is all I'm saying." He looked sideways at Tsunade, who was giving him her glare of death.

"Don't give me that excuse again, you pervert. Last time you said that, it was to get me to let you spy on the daughter of one of our largest authors."

"But she was hot! And completely legal," Jiraiya huffed. Tsunade was not impressed, and a dangerous tick was developing with her eyebrow.

"Barely. And the point is, I'm not letting you get away with avoiding your deadline any more than you already have." _Neji has enough on his mind as it is, _Tsunade thought, smiling to herself, _with Naruto hounding him as he is. _

Jiraiya drummed his fingers on his desk, clearly bored. Looking at the smile that Tsunade didn't even know she was showing, however, made him grin as well. "What are you thinking about?"

"None of your business."

"Does it have anything to do with our happy editor Neji?"

Tsunade glanced over at him, impressed that he could read her so well. "Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Lucky guess." Jiraiya's grin increased. "Also, thinking about the season of love reminds me of Naruto, which draws the line to Neji. Poor soul. I know what it's like being harangued by that bugger."

"Oh, come on. They say you can't choose who you fall in love with." _Don't I know… _"Who would willingly love _that_ cold bastard?"

Jiraiya was about to respond when his door was suddenly slammed open. Before either of the friends were able to respond, a green jumpsuited figure waltzed in, and Tsunade could have sworn that he was followed by a cloud of rose petals.

"Good afternoon, beloved senior members of our staff!" Tsunade's eyebrow twitched dangerously at 'senior'. "I have stepped into Jiraiya's humble office this fine day to inform you both that it is Neji's birthday in approximately two days, nine hours and seventeen minutes!" The bowl-haired man looked as if he was about to burst at this news, jumping up and down and waving around a sheet of paper that looked suspiciously like a birth certificate.

Jiraiya had to hold back a laugh, while Tsunade internally took back her words. Oh yes. _This _guy.

No one actually knew what Rock Lee's job was in Hyuuga's publishing business. Tsunade doubted that he was an editor, since the idea of him sitting still for more than two seconds was laughable. However, she knew that when he got a superfluous task into his head, it was impossible for him to stop. Such as celebrating a very reluctant man's birthday. She wasn't sure if Lee was actually _in_ _love_ with Neji, but he certainly had a bizarre fascination with the editor.

"You've made announcements about this every day for the past week, Lee. I think we get the point."

"I only aspire to banish any forgetfulness for this glorious day! If anyone forgets to bring him a present, I will challenge myself by eating-"

"Okay, okay. Enough of you." Tsunade stood up and forcefully pushed the man out of Jiraiya's door. Closing it with a snap, she then turned back around to her friend, sighing heavily.

"I don't know how I can stand working here. Everyone is crazy."

Jiraiya had turned around to face the window, peering around his shades with a pair of large black binoculars. "What? I didn't hear you."

Tsunade stared at him for a moment, before sighing quietly. _I rest my case._

* * *

**So, there's a slight flaw in my story here, seeing as the story is currently in April, and Neji's birthday is in July. OH well.**

***Twelfth Night Corner***

**I didn't have a real clear idea as to who Malvolio should be, since he's traditionally the 'evil' character. I could have had Orochimaru be in here as a creepy stalker, but I rather detest him and didn't want him in Neji's office. So instead I just made Malvolio a silly character… I hope you all approve :D**


	14. Chapter XIII

**Chapter XIII**

* * *

The act of coming into work at 11 was a little unnerving to Sasuke. Not that he would ever admit it, but in the deepest depths of his head, he might have recognized that he was a little bit of a stick in the mud. Which wasn't _that bad, _he told himself as he glared at the Uzumaki Banking building, stepping inside. It just made coming to work late… A little uncomfortable.

He continued his internal debate inside the elevator. _Just because everyone else slacks off doesn't mean I have to suffer, _he thought moodily. Technically, he could still come in early; however, the fact that he would have to go out of his way to find someone to open the door for him (even the custodians were accustomed to the late schedule) deterred him. So here he was, second day of work and coming in late.

At least there was someone here this time. Feeling pity for him, Hinata had promised to come in earlier today than the others, who would most likely show up a few minutes before 12. She nervously smiled as he walked through the door, letting out a faint "hello" that was barely more than a whisper. Sasuke nodded in return, not too worried about her quietness, as he was pretty sure she was this way to everyone. Setting his bag down by his new desk, Sasuke sat down in his chair, staring blankly at his computer screen. He knew that there was probably something he should be doing at this moment. But when he tried to think back to what they had done yesterday, all he could remember was everyone just slacking off.

Realizing that there really wasn't anything to do until he sat down with Naruto and got to know his schedule, Sasuke, on a whim, got up from his seat and walked over to where Hinata was sitting. The action was bizarre, really; Sasuke had never, in his entire life, willingly initiated a conversation before. And yet here he was, sitting down in Tamari's seat and waiting for Hinata to glance up from her screen.

"H-hey, Suki. What's up?"

"Oh, nothing." The raven experimented, in his now slightly easier female voice, with a laugh. In this case, he supposed that it was okay that it sounded a little nervous. Never the strongest at small talk, he motioned limply at Hinata's screen. "What are you working on?"

"S-spreadsheets, mostly." Hinata looked down to her hands, and Sasuke again asked himself if this was a bad idea. Even with this internal questioning, however, he continued on.

"How do you like it here?"

As Hinata paused to consider his question, Sasuke felt a little weary with himself. He was asking questions identical to the kind that he loathed- vague, unnecessary, and yet somehow still prying. As if he really cared what her answer was. But he needed to acclimate; this was his challenge. For some reason, he pictured himself on some wildlife TV show. _"And here, ladies and gentlemen, the male Uchiha must go against his natural instincts and take part in the feminine activity known as _small talk. _This species' slow reaction rate may be the end of our Sasuke's charade, folks."_

Thankfully, Hinata was not a mind reader, and therefore did not bear witness to Sasuke's bizarre internal monologue. Instead, she answered his question. "It's n-nice. I mean, I like it. It's a lot of f-fun, and the p-p-people here are great…" Her eternal blush deepened a few shades, and she unconsciously started to push her index fingers together.

Clearly, she felt an attraction to the company because of someone here, from her answer. But who could it be…?

Realizing that any further ponderings would just lead him to a flustered Hinata and a headache, he decided to leave the topic and move on to another. "So, Naruto really likes your cousin, huh?"

_Ah, Sasuke, _he internally and sarcastically commented, _you truly are the master of conversation._

Hinata looked a little embarrassed, but Sasuke couldn't really take much out of this response, since this appeared to be her default mood. "Y-yeah… Naruto met N-Neji at one of the company balls a c-couple of years back, and he's b-been following h-him ever s-since."

"And how does Neji feel about Naruto?"

"H-he… he doesn't r-really return the affection…"

"He hates him." Sasuke smirked, inferring Hinata's meaning from her nervous glances and pained look. She silently nodded. Sasuke tried to figure out why this news seemed to lighten something from off his chest.

"B-but, it's not really his fault!" Hinata was quick to amend. "I-I mean, Neji has had a rough time. His d-dad died about three years ago, a-and he h-hasn't been the same since." Her eyes filled with pain for her cousin, and Sasuke felt an uncomfortable regret for bringing it up.

"N-Naruto met him just a few months after it h-happened, and Neji… wasn't in the best spot for e-emotional r-relationships. So…." She trailed off, looking to the side.

Hn. This wasn't a very light-hearted conversation. Sasuke was in the middle of trying to find something to say to steer away from the topic when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He jumped, horrified that he could have again missed someone coming in the door.

"Out of my seat, newbie." Surprisingly to Sasuke, this statement wasn't spoken with malice, as Temari pushed him out of her chair. The assurance that she wasn't really angry at him was backed up with a friendly smirk. "Tormenting our Hinata here, I see."

"Oh, n-no, Temari! S-Suki was just asking me q-questions about work…" Hinata fell into another embarrassed stupor, and Temari rolled her eyes.

"Again, don't worry about Hinata. She's deathly shy of anything that moves, and some things that don't. Don't get her too close to a vending machine." Cackling, Temari mussed up Sasuke's hair before spinning around in her chair and turning on her computer. Sasuke felt like he should be pissed at her for messing with his wig, but somehow, he could only summon up a smirk to answer the action.

The other coworkers were now entering. Looking up at the clock, Sasuke was surprised to see that it was almost 11:45. Shikamaru slumped over to his seat, drooping into its embrace. Kiba came bounding into the room, making a beeline to Hinata's desk. "Hey, Hinata! How was your day yesterday? I mean, after you got home from work and everything!"

"I-" Her face became inflamed, and she looked down at her fingers. Sasuke had the growing suspicion that he knew who the 'great person' that Hinata was speaking about earlier was.

Ino pranced in, throwing her purse down beside her desk. She was wearing a tight purple sweater dress with a black belt across her waist and her hair pulled up into a messy bun. "Hello, Hinata. Hello, annoying newbie."

"Is that your thing? Dressing like a slut?" Sasuke glanced meaningfully at the low hemline of her dress, and the shortness of material that went up to around mid-thigh. She stuck out her tongue, glaring. Kiba gave out a barking laugh, and Sasuke answered her glower with a sardonic smirk.

"Oh, shut up." Ino flipped her ponytail with a nonchalant hand, turning around to face her computer. The risk of being rude had paid off; Sasuke immediately felt more relaxed with the group, with Ino and the others seeming to accept him into the clan.

Funny… He had never really felt that happen before.

* * *

"Stop yelling at me!" Naruto whined, bursting out of his office door.

"I'm not frickin' yelling at you!" Sasuke picked up a desk vase, threatening to chuck it at the idiot's head. He _was_ yelling, but really, he couldn't help it: the dobe had gone too far. "How on _earth_ did your calendar get so fucked up?"

"It's not my fault!" Naruto ran to cower behind Shikamaru's chair, whose inhabitant didn't wake up even with the commotion. "I haven't had a secretary for a while, that's all."

"Naruto." Sasuke glared daggers at the blond, causing him to cower lower. He put both hands on his hips, finding one advantage to his heels: they made him taller than he already was. "The problems go back to _six months ago. _You haven't been lacking a secretary for that long."

"Well…" Naruto looked around, trying to find a better place to hide, as the now conscious Shikamaru was kicking his side, complaining about his lack of leg room. "I might have asked him to push back a few appointments…"

"A few."

"Look, they were all _so _boring! I was sick of it." Naruto pouted, narrowly missing Ino's day planner as she tried to remove him from behind her chair.

"It looks like the entire calendar is covered with X's and arrows! Just because you push them back, does NOT mean that they disappear!"

"I know…" Naruto sighed, falling defeated on the floor. Sasuke had to admit that he looked a little pitiful there, crumpled suit and mopey-eyed. "But now that you're here, you'll be able to fix it all up! Wait, no- no, Suki, put the lamp DOWN-"

"I am _so _tempted to throw this at you." Sasuke gave the blond a final glare, before lowering the lamp and drawing a hand across his face with a sigh. "There will be no end to the work I have to do to get that mess back in order."

"But I'm positive that you can do it." Now that the threat of the lamp was over, Naruto quickly got to his feet, dusting off his suit and beaming brightly. Walking past Sasuke, he gave him a friendly pat. "I knew it as soon as I saw you that you'd be just the person to get me back in order."

"Yeah, well, don't push your luck," Sasuke huffed, glaring darkly at the floor. _How could the great Uchiha Sasuke have dropped so low as to be the secretary of an idiot?_

* * *

**I realize that there are some problems with how I've set up this office. For example, even though I say this is one of the largest banks in the area, its top office is oversimplified and localized. I hope you all don't mind too much.**


	15. Chapter XIV

**Hello all. Sorry about my long wait with the last chapter, hope that you can forgive me ^^**

**A reviewer reminded me of something that is seriously troubling me (and probably a lot of you out there). I'm not quite sure whether it should be Sasuke or Naruto as seme. I usually only read sasunaru, so I kind of just assumed that it would be that way. But how can it work out that way, if Sasuke's the one dressed as a GIRL? (bangs head on desk).**

**I apologize. As I said, this is my first Naruto fic, and I really would like you guys to like it. So, if you could send a review on how you think it should be, please do!**

**Done rambling….**

* * *

**Chapter XIV**

Sasuke was not in the best of moods. For one thing, it was almost 10 o'clock at night, and he was still at work. The cause? An insanely disorganized schedule that made little to no sense at all. He had no idea how Naruto had gotten anything done in the absence of a secretary.

_And why not? _Sasuke internally chuckled, darkly. _It's not like he'd getting anything done with a working schedule either._

He hadn't expected for this to take so long, and actually had some other projects that he planned to begin. However, he had found that he had to swipe any semblance of the existing schedule, since it frankly did not make sense. The old calendar was now riddled with phrases in red ink such as _lunch at 12 but meeting from 11-3:30? _Clearly, Naruto believed that he could be two places at one time. Sasuke tended to disagree, and so set off to work at arranging the schedule. Already, he had a huge list of things he had to do tomorrow, since he now had numerous contacts to call and reschedule. Just thinking about it made his head hurt.

And then there was the second thing, which was that his boss was also here late at night.

He hadn't noticed this fact until well into the evening, after everyone else had been long gone. He had gotten up to go get a cup of coffee from the dispenser in the staff room, rubbing his eyes tiredly, when he happened to look into the office behind him. Through the glass, he could see the cloudy blotch of yellow that was his bosses' head, and he paused, quirking his eyebrow. _What is the dobe doing here this late at night? Isn't it past his bedtime? _Chuckling, Sasuke turned back to head towards the staff room, but couldn't help glancing back at the fuzzy golden ball through the office glass.

And now the clock's hand was nearing 10, and Sasuke was mentally wincing at the hours remained until he would again be walking in here tomorrow morning. He stood up, stretching. Turning behind him to turn off his floor lamp, he again paused, remembering once more that Naruto was still here. Instead of turning off the lamp, Sasuke hesitated, staring at the yellow head. It wasn't moving. Slowly, he lowered his hand, before walking around his desk and knocking quietly on the glass door.

"Dobe." His voice was rough with drowsiness, and he coughed softly, trying to regain his girl voice. "Naruto?"

No answer. Quietly, he opened the door.

As he expected, his boss was asleep. His head lolled against the crook of his arm on the desk, hair messy from clearly frustrated fingers. Sasuke paused in the doorway, taking the blond in. His smirk at seeing the dobe in his current state slowly dissolved, and he walked closer, examining the man's face. In the poor light of the office lamps, Sasuke could only see angles of the blond, hard outlines. Kneeling down in front of Naruto's desk, Sasuke examined his face, taking in the darkened cheekbones, the crescent shape of his lids, the slight hint of drool at the side of his mouth. Murmuring something in his sleep, Naruto shifted a bit, bringing his face closer to the light. After several moments, Sasuke reached out a hand, stretching towards the blond's face. At the last moment, he moved it to the man's shoulder, and pushed roughly.

"Oi. Dobe. Wake up."

"Wazzat?" Naruto's eyelids were slow in their ascent, and his mouth stretched wide in a catlike yawn before he had even glanced at who had woken him up. _Idiot. Doesn't even know what it's like to fear for his life, and have to watch his back every minute. _Still, Sasuke quirked his mouth into a smirk when Naruto's eyes finally landed on him.

"Oh. Hey, Suki." He grinned widely, clearly not caring that he looked like a complete imbecile. Sasuke's smirk widened without himself knowing, as he shoved Naruto lightly in the shoulder again.

"What are you still doing here? I bet your bed is much more comfortable than your desk."

"Wouldn't you like to know." Even while tired, Naruto was able to pull off a pretty good eyebrow wiggle. Sasuke's cheeks reddened, and he narrowed his eyes. Feeling the hostility, Naruto laughed.

"Joking, joking! Don't worry, you have nothing to fear with me. Gay, remember?" He quirked a grin, stretching. "And, of course, there's the fact that my sights are set on only one person." He stopped in his stretching, eyes becoming blank in the weak office light. Slowly, he lowered his arms from their stretch, glancing down.

Sasuke stared at him for a couple of seconds, before walking around to his side of the desk. "What are you working on so late, anyway?"

"Oh." It took Naruto a few moments to get out of his thoughts. "There's this problem I'm trying to figure out with the location of some of these funds. However I try to work it out, this one area always comes up short." He glanced dismally at the printouts in front of him. Peering over his shoulder, Sasuke paused a few seconds before leaning over Naruto to pick up one of the pens strewn across the desk.

"Here, I think you're trying to make this more complicated than it needs to be. If you just move the money from here to there, and then transfer those funds…. Oh." His brow wrinkled, and his eyes narrowed. "Well, maybe if we… But that…" He let out a hiss of frustration.

"I know, it gets you at every turn, right?" Naruto looked up amusedly at Sasuke's face. "Seems like it's not as easy as you thought." Sasuke answered him with a grunt, bending closer to examine the sheets.

_Damn these lights! If only I had my reading glasses. _Sasuke made a mental note to get about getting some as soon as possible. Squinting, he let out another growl as his web of transfers ended in another dead end. Naruto's eyes were now questioning.

"This is really getting under your skin, isn't it?"

"I'm just not used to not getting what I want." He bit the side of the pen, thinking. Naruto's gaze was still questioning, but he moved it again to the papers, pointing with his fingers.

"If you can see, I was thinking about transferring half of the amount here, so we would be able to…"

"Maybe. Scoot over." Sasuke absentmindedly took the empty chair in the room and situated it besides Naruto's own, mind focused on the task at hand. "I think I can see the problem…"

* * *

Sasuke didn't even bother looking at the clock as the two walked out of the blond's office, knowing already that it was later than he would have liked it. Still, he couldn't keep a tired smirk from reaching his face. They had found a solution, after much frustration. Beside him, Naruto was blinking sleepily, a lazy grin stretched across his face as he rubbed his eyes and maneuvered himself out of the office.

"You look like a little kid," Sasuke drawled, letting Naruto lean on him for a moment while the blond locked up. Naruto stuck his tongue out in return, as if to confirm Sasuke's remark.

"I _feel _like a little kid. Like I've…" he yawned widely, exposing his white teeth. "Stayed up past my bedtime." Sasuke made sure to hide his smile behind a cough.

The two exited the building in amiable silence, Naruto's eyelids drifting closed every so often and leaning slightly on Sasuke's shoulder. Most of the lights were off; both of the men nodded at the night security guard sitting at his desk as they left the building. The evening May air felt nice on Sasuke's skin, and he breathed in deeply, closing his eyes for a moment before turning to the blond man beside him.

"Do you need help getting home?" Sasuke smirked, watching Naruto return a pitiful glare. In the depths of his mind, beneath his hard outer shell, he felt slightly uneasy. He was, in fact, seventeen, and these things were still new to him. Even at college, he had had a driver take him wherever he pleased. It was unsettling to come up with his own ways of getting home; he didn't even know anything about the subways, or when they shut down for the night. Did they shut down?

Naruto's look became musing. "I'm fine, my car's just around back. I'm wondering about you, though. You don't have a parking spot, right?"

"Yeah, I take the subway." Sasuke shifted on his feet, hating the lack of control in his situation.

"Hm." Naruto's eyebrows crinkled together. "I'm not sure how I feel about my pretty little assistant taking the subway this late at night. Someone might try and rape you." Sasuke laughed, thinking to himself, _let them try._

"I think you're over-reacting about how the subway actually is." He smirked, shoving the blond lightly on the shoulder. "It's really not that bad."

"I know." Naruto blinked, slowly, before stiffening to attention, pulling himself together. He turned Sasuke, a grin on his face. "Nevertheless, I would feel much better if I could give you a ride." Sasuke stiffened as well, but out of discomfort instead of waking up. "Please? For my peace of mind?"

Sasuke stared down into Naruto's face, still holding a certain dosage of sleep. He frowned, feeling that if he was just a _little _less tired than he currently was, he might not say what he did next.

"All right," he huffed, choosing to ignore the triumphant grin from Naruto. "I'm in-between apartments, so I'm staying at Kakashi's place for the time being. You know where he lives, right?"

"Sure I do, I've known him for ages! I would be worried that you were staying with a creepy older man, but…" Naruto laughed heartily, directing them towards the back of the building. "I think you'll be safe with Kakashi." Sasuke raised his eyebrow.

Coming to a black luxury car, Naruto made a show of opening the passenger seat for Sasuke. For a moment there, and this made him slightly uneasy, Sasuke had forgotten completely about his identity, and had simply been acting as two guys might when heading home after work. Perhaps he was getting too friendly with Naruto. If he could even call them friends. Snorting, he settled into the cushy seat of the car, relaxing as Naruto got in beside him, started the engine, and drove out of the parking lot in the direction of Kakashi's apartment.


	16. Chapter XV

**Hi everyone! As always, apologies for the wait. I actually had to rewrite this entire chapter before I could put it out, seeing as it's quite crucial to move the plot along. It's quite long, I hope you enjoy! ^^**

* * *

**Chapter XV**

"I have a special mission for you, Suki!"

Sasuke looked up from his paperwork, frowning. One week with this man and he already knew that anything he deemed "special" warranted caution tape. Sighing, he removed his metal framed glasses and placed them on the desk, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Please don't tell me you want me to get you more ramen. You just went down for lunch half an hour ago-"

"What? No. This is more serious." Sasuke looked up, surprised. The blond was distracted, lacking his usual… Naruto-ness. Looking into his face, Sasuke was surprised to see a Naruto that he hadn't seen before- a serious, anxious Naruto.

"What is it?" Sasuke asked, leaving out his usual bite. Unfortunately, it seemed that he had miscalculated the situation; Naruto livened up right away, giving him his trademark, stupid grin.

"I knew you would do it! This requires absolute precision and care, something that you're going to need all of your training to accomplish." Sasuke wanted to comment on how, 1, he had not technically agreed to anything, and 2, that he hardly felt that a week on the job gave him that much training, but Naruto bulldozed on ahead. "I need you to deliver a highly confidential proposal to the head of Hyuuga Publishing, using all of the patience that I have taught you."

Sasuke stared blankly at the blond for a moment, before turning back to his paperwork. "No."

"But, Suki-"

"Dobe, if you think that I will spend even a minute of my time delivering your love letter to the man that you fruitlessly stalk, you are sorely mistaken."

"How could you!" Naruto truly looked upset at Sasuke's merciless statement. "For one thing, Suki, it is much more than just a _love letter_. It is a confession, a ballad even, that sings of my inner torment and eternal love."

"Dobe-"

"Also, it is cruel to describe what I do as stalking. While I do admit that I must show my utmost love for Neji mostly from a distance, I prefer to think of my affections in much more tender terms. We are star-crossed lovers-"

"Dobe-"

"bound by his inability to yet see the love that swells within his bosom for me-"

"Dobe!" He hadn't meant for his Uchiha snarl to come out, but it was effective in getting Naruto's attention; in fact, every head in the office swiveled or popped up over their walls to look in their direction, revealing shocked or startled looks on his coworker's faces. He waited, seething, as one by one, like gophers on a prairie, all of the heads poked down out of sight, leaving him to talk in relative peace to the idiot before him.

"Listen when I'm trying to talk to you, dobe." Sasuke brushed a hand across his face, feeling tired already. _And it's not even noon yet._ "Your interruptions are quite bothersome. In order to participate in a functional conversation, you must listen as well as speak. I'm sure someone taught you that somewhere in your life."

"They might have mentioned it once or twice," Naruto said, cocking his head to one side and smiling in a way that, much to Sasuke's disgust, made the raven's insides twist in a most unpleasant way. _Must be the stupidity, _he thought angrily, _making my organs constrict._

"I understand that, for whatever delusional reason that you have come up with in that puny little head of yours, you believe that you can somehow make Neji fall… _in love_ with you." The words felt odd and chalky on his tongue, and he grimaced. "But I'm here as the voice of reason to inform you that your attempts aren't working. I've only been here a week and I already know that."

Sasuke knew that Naruto felt passionately about this subject. What he didn't expect was the depth within the blond that these feelings went. Looking at the man, Sasuke had a hard time thinking that he had anything beneath that superficial layer of tanned skin and white teeth. However, as Sasuke looked into Naruto's face so close to his own, his eyes were what made Sasuke pause, catching him and entrancing him. He remembered in his classes of literature analysis how poets always spoke of how the eyes were windows to the soul; here, while he had only smirked before, he could finally see what they were talking about, and something changed within him.

Silently, he looked away from the blue orbs, suddenly and inexplicably ashamed. Perhaps it was the simple knowledge that he had seen into the very insides of Naruto with that glance into his eyes, saw things that he had no right to see, and had no right to question. With one glance, Naruto had disarmed Sasuke, leaving him with a strange undefinable aching in his chest.

"Please, Suki." Sasuke closed his eyes, unperceivably catching his breath. "I know how my situation looks. God knows I've spent enough time obsessing over him to realize how ridiculous my predicament looks." He leaned forward, grabbing Suki's attention with his gaze. "But have you ever had something, gained something that felt so perfect, so _right_, and you knew that it was a lost hope trying to forget about obtaining that thing?"

Sasuke looked into Naruto's eyes, mere inches away from his own. Somehow, he had lost some internal battle; while his exterior was still as composed and mature as ever, his insides were a mess, responding in odd ways to how Naruto's breath washed over his cheeks.

_No, I don't know that feeling._

Suddenly realizing how far over the desk he had stretched, Naruto retracted himself, looking embarrassed. He brought a hand up to scratch the back of his head. "I'm sorry, Suki. I didn't mean to overwhelm you like that. I know that I must look like an idiot in your eyes right now. I'll leave you to your work." He turned away.

"Stop." It took Sasuke a moment to realize that it was his own voice that had spoken, and he cursed his internal weakness. _Oh well, can't stop now._ "I'll do it."

"Wait, what?" Clearly, Naruto was not expecting this, turning back around to face Sasuke fully in stark surprise.

"But, I have a requirement." Sasuke sighed again, rubbing the bridge of his nose and feeling a headache already begin to form. "I'm not going to read off of some ballad or whatever that you've written. I'm going to try it my own way, to see if I can get any different results."

"You would do that?" Naruto's eyes were wide.

"Yeah, I-" Sasuke was cut off by two suited arms incasing his frame, hugging him tight.

"Oh, thank you, Suki! You're the best secretary that I could have ever wished for!" Naruto's voice was muffled in Sasuke's hair. The raven gave a few awkward pats in response; however, he couldn't help but smile at the blond's enthusiasm, and the feel of the man's body against his own in one of the first real hugs that he could ever recall receiving.

* * *

"And you say you were from…?"

Sasuke sighed, pursing his lips. Here's where it was going to get complicated. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto's secretary."

"Oh, the doofus was telling me about getting a new one since Haku left." Sasuke was surprised to see that the blonde, busty woman in front of him knew such intimate details about his boss. He was in the waiting area of Hyuuga Publishing, talking to the man in question's secretary. She was beautiful, but Sasuke had a feeling that she was much older than she looked, judging by the wise look of her eyes even behind her flippant remarks.

"Yes- do you know him?" While still keeping his steely composure, Sasuke was internally pushed off balance by the knowing look of the woman in front of him.

"Know him? I raised that little furrball, or at least long enough for him to be eternally grateful to me." She snorted, resting her head in the cup of her hand. "It wouldn't hurt him to call more often. Tell him that when you get back."

"I will certainly do so. However, is there any chance that I will be able to see-"

"I know exactly what you're here for." The woman brushed him off with a flick of her hand. "Believe me, I've heard the same request from far too many of Naruto's employees. The answer is no."

Still externally stoic, Sasuke mentally deflated. This was what he was expecting; he knew that he was not the first one to come and plead Naruto's case. However, there was no way that he was backing away from the challenge, after coming this far already. He squared his shoulders.

"Miss-" he looked down at the nameplate on the desk. "Tsunade. I've only been in Naruto's office for about a week, but I already understand how his personal mix of intrusion and attention can grate on even the most understanding person's nerves."

Tsunade grinned. "To put it mildly. He's quite a lovable trooper, but his persistence certainly can get to even the best." She shook her head, smiling sadly. "It's that loveableness that'll be the death of him. He can't allow anyone, namely Neji, not to love him. The poor bastard."

"But maybe he doesn't have to stop trying?" Tsunade looked up at him questioningly. "If you would allow me a chance, I might be able to change his mi-"

"Well, _hello _there." Sasuke stiffened, turning his head several millimeters to see the intruder behind him. Tsunade visibly stiffened beside him, giving a condescending glare to the old man with wild white hair that was standing behind the raven. Without a doubt, this was one of the most perverse-looking men that Sasuke had ever seen.

"Jiraiya, you know that I'm not opposed to calling security on you." The man seemed to completely ignore the blonde woman, instead focusing all of his attention on a now-uncomfortable raven in front of him.

"Hi there, beautiful lady. The name's Jiraiya, but you can call me Pookie if it suits your fancy." He held out a hand, clearly putting on a great deal of charm. Sasuke nearly threw up in his mouth. "I'm a _writer._"

"Fascinating," Sasuke deadpanned, looking sideways at Tsunade's desk to see if there was anything he could distract the pervy old man with.

"I'm quite an artist with my work, but I'm always short on models to base my female characters on. You wouldn't mind lending me a hand…?" As he said this, wide grin on his face, he reached out to take Sasuke's own hand.

Too slow. Within milliseconds, his wrist was trapped by Sasuke's hand, twisted to make the man wince in pain and shock. The atmosphere of the waiting room immediately dropped several degrees, and it appeared as if the lights themselves dimmed.

"I would suggest that you keep your hands to yourself, old man." Sasuke had let loose a full Uchiha glare, the red rings around his irises growing dark red. Everyone in the room shivered compulsively. He let go of the man's hand, and the room immediately returned to normal. He smirked. "It's best not to cross me."

Jiraiya started to gain back some of the color in his face. Quickly, he mumbled something under his breath, looking bewildered, before backing away and moving hurriedly down a corridor to what looked like more offices. Turning back around to face Tsunade, Sasuke was pleased to see that he had entered in her good graces; her nod was congratulatory.

"Hmm, maybe I'll give your preposition a whirl. I promise nothing, mind you." She got up from behind her desk, gave him a conspiratorial wink, and headed off to talk to her boss, leaving Sasuke to wonder and his good fortune.

It didn't take long for her to come back. "Sorry, Suki. He's pretty adamant about not getting any more messages from that numbskull." She sighed, shaking your head. "I swear, Naruto has the worst judgment on how to deal with a situation. I'm sorry you had to come all this way."

"I'm not leaving."

The statement surprised both of them. Tsunade looked up at him with questioning eyes, but he couldn't hold her stare, just as shocked as she was at what had come out of his mouth. He wasn't trying to boast when he said that he was intelligent, and it wouldn't take a genius to realize that this situation was heading nowhere. He could go back to Naruto and tell him that he had tried, that it simply wasn't meant to be, that he should get a grip on himself and stop acting like a love-sick moron. But he couldn't, and that was what scared him away from looking in Tsunade's eyes.

Finally, the woman spoke again. "Well, if that's where you get your kicks. We have soft chairs along the wall; try to get comfy, you'll be there for a while." Sasuke only nodded, turned around, and tried to get a hold of himself, settling in for a long wait.

* * *

It eventually only took a half an hour to gain entrance, a lucky break for Sasuke, who was getting mighty bored staring at the walls and belittling himself. While waiting, Sasuke tried to come up for some kind of logical reason for him to still be here. There was none. It must have, therefore, been a fit of madness that led him to stay. But even knowing this, he still couldn't get up and leave, even if he wanted to.

_It must be my pride,_ Sasuke thought to himself grumpily. _Pride is always a good reason. I don't want to back down from a challenge._ But every time he got lost on his train of thought, he would find himself remembering Naruto's worried eyes, clear and pleading. Those were the eyes of dreams, he mused- perfect, clear, telling everything there was to know about the man behind them.

He was startled out of his thoughts with Tsunade's call. "Hey, Suki. You've gained admittance."

Sasuke was shocked to have lost track of where he was so thoroughly. He stood up quickly, straightening his features to his normal composed state. He walked over to the woman, who was grinning widely.

"I think he's more curious than anything at this point. No one's waited this long before." She gave him a friendly tap on the shoulder. "Good job, kiddo."

Sasuke was surprised. Somehow, he had gotten an ally in the woman. Giving one of his rare smiles, he said his thanks and walked through the partially open door.

It was extremely dark inside. The inhabitant of the room had intentionally made it so, leaving only a dim desk light on that illuminated a slimmer of his frame. Sasuke could just barely see the outline of hair, thick and falling over delicate but masculine shoulders. He paused in the entryway, not quite sure how to proceed.

"Please, come in." The voice of velvety but deep. Sasuke took several steps into the room, straining his eyes to see anything more of the occupant. "Sit." He remained standing, peering into the depths of the man's face.

"I'm sure you have figured out the reason of my visit," Sasuke stated, watching the figure for any movement; infuriatingly, he couldn't see any of the man's features.

"Indeed I have." The man shifted in his seat, sitting up taller and closer over his desk.

"You therefore must have some reluctance in talking to me."

"Correct again." The man tilted his head to the side, seeming to analyze Sasuke.

"So why?"

There was silence for a moment. Sasuke leaned against the chair before him, trying to see the man clearer. Finally, Neji answered.

"I was interested. Never before has one of Naruto's assistants stayed so long to talk to me. They usually give up by the first few minutes, believing that their venture is a lost cause."

Sasuke chuckled, stepping a little closer. "I understand the sentiment."

"So why are you here, Miss Satou? You can't possibly believe that Mr. Uzumaki's attempts can be successful. You are wasting your time."

"Perhaps." Sasuke felt something stirring within him, and he brushed the pads of his fingers against the side of the chair. "It is most probable that I will not succeed. But I can't help but try." Neji was silent again.

"Mr. Hyuuga, may I see your face?" Sasuke glanced up to the area where Neji's eyes presumably were. There was a pause. Then, the figure moved, rolling his chair over to the desk lamp.

The first thing that Sasuke took in was the man's hair- thick and chestnut, falling beyond his range of sight and looking as silky as corn husks. Next was his pale face, bruised around the eyes with shadows and perfectly clear. Above the shadows were eyes that he had seen in Hinata's face but seemed even more startling on her cousin's, so white that he first thought that the man was blind. But no- he could see the energy and life beneath the white lenses, taking in Sasuke's face in turn. Above his white eyes his clear forehead was marred by the smallest frown of wrinkles and a jagged, intricate scar.

"You see me. What do you make of it?" Neji's hands came into view, resting on the desk in a dominant manner. Sasuke took a second to respond.

"I can understand why Naruto follows you," Sasuke said slowly. "Your features are unusual and unique; almost like a painting. I understand how one could become infatuated with you." It was easy to see how Naruto could have fallen so hard. Even with the limited time that he had spent with the blonde, Sasuke could already see how he was attracted to perfect things, beautiful things.

"Indeed?" The man raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. I feel sorry for my boss. You are worthy of being admired, and I feel he has fallen under your allure."

"That man's a fool." Neji's eyes flashed with anger. "I want nothing to do with him. Besides the fact that I have told him repeatedly that I'm not homosexual, he would not be my type. He goes through life as if it's nothing more than a game."

"I think you're wrong there." Sasuke took a deep breath, trying to organize his thoughts. This was an opening, a way to get to the man. "He's deeper than you think. He'd be willing to do anything to make you happy."

"Like what?" Again, a raised eyebrow. Sasuke took another internal pause before continuing on.

"If I was in love with a man as Mr. Uzumaki is, I would never allow them to believe that there was anything more important in my life than him. There would be nothing more I would want to do than spend my entire day with him. Even if I was able to kiss him only once a day, it would be enough, as long as he knew that I loved him." He said this all with a straight face, staring into Neji's eyes to judge his reaction. He could see something shift in the brunet's eyes, something stirring. He finished, waiting for the man's response.

It took Neji a moment to respond. He appeared lost in his thoughts. "You believe that?" His eyes roamed over Sasuke's face, and the raven nodded, breathing softly.

"I believe that Naruto would give you all of that and more."

Neji seemed to snap out of his thoughts at this, mouth turning down into a frown. "I have no doubt that he fed those words to you from some sappy romance novel."

"They are mine," Sasuke stated, realizing how close he had leaned over the desk. "He only gave me the inspiration."

"Indeed," Neji murmured, staring up at Sasuke's face before looking away. Sasuke leaned back as well, frowning.

"You do not believe me."

"He has sent me many love notes of this nature. The ones that I can stand to read, I mean. He is a broken record, a senseless fool. He doesn't know what it's like to love."

"But you haven't seen him." Sasuke leaned forward once more, feeling a sense of earnestness enter his words. "All day he mourns you not being by him. We can hardly work with him in his current state," he leaned back, giving a small smirk, "which is one of the reasons that I came to you today."

Neji stared at him across the desk, quizzical. Sasuke realized that he had lost his hesitation about talking to the man long before; in fact, he began to feel sorry for him. He understood those dark circles beneath his eyes, and the tired tone to his retorts. He was a man who had lost someone and knew what it meant to love them. Sasuke could see how a man such as Naruto, someone who was so lively and carefree, could grate on the nerves of someone like Neji.

"I will leave you for today," Sasuke said, standing up to his full height. "I only hope that I have given you something to think about."

"Will you be coming back?" Neji asked, surprising Sasuke. He thought on this for a moment.

"Perhaps, if you prefer it, and I can get you to change your mind." Neji's forehead puckered, and Sasuke had to smirk softy at the sight.

"That man knows nothing of love. He's a fool to keep sending his messengers; I'll never fall in love with him."

"You'd be surprised." Sasuke smirked wider, giving a farewell wave. "They say it's fairly easy to fall in love with someone, even one you detest." With that, he exited Neji's dark office, making his way out of the waiting room and into the bright day outside.

* * *

**Still not perfect…. But I figure that it's better to put out the chapter than spend any more time obsessing over it. I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to revise after I've finished the story. X/**

**Also, sorry for making Jiraiya seem like a senile old man :D **

**I'd like to take this time to thank my reviewers! Every one counts, and even though I fail entirely at replying to most, I appreciate every last one! They're what make me type faster, you know. :p So more reviews, QUICKER CHAPTERS! Anywho, I'm off to see what more I can write. I hope you're enjoying it! **


	17. Chapter XVI

**Hi everyone, hope you're ready for a new installment! UGH, I can't believe I'm still building the foundations of this thing, it's taking so long! However, I can safely answer some of your guys' questions for the future.**

**1) There WILL be some actual Sasuke-Naruto interaction (rather than just Suki-Naruto), although sadly it will be quite limited until… well… the end. Hopefully Sasuke's own personality is able to shine through Suki's enough for you guys! *dodges rocks* **

**2) Some of the characters from the beginning WILL be coming up in the story again! Hint hint…**

**3) I AM a failure at updating. So, in order to stop this madness, I'm going to set about a schedule to bring out a new chapter every week on Wednesday (because nobody likes Wednesdays, amiright?). If they're short, I'll bring out two. Hopefully, this will have the effect of not only encouraging me to write more of the story that I love to write, but also to give you guys something to (hopefully) look forward to!**

**I hope that I haven't lost all of my readers yet- somehow, you guys are able to tail me through all of my unintentional hiatuses. So without further ado, a new chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter XVI**

"Now, are you sure that you can handle living by yourself?"

Sasuke quizzically looked at the man beside him. "Even if I said no, this would be a pretty bad time to figure that out."

"True, true." Kakashi turned back to face the apartment door that they were currently standing in front of. Beside them, Sasuke's new landlady was tapping her foot, waiting for the two of them to finish bringing Sasuke's belongings into the apartment. It was in a modest building in the city, closer to Sasuke's job, within walking distance of the nearest supermarket.

"You know, I feel like I should be experiencing some kind of empty nest syndrome here, since you're leaving." Kakashi turned to look at Sasuke's disbelieving expression. "No? Well, maybe not. Good luck, kiddo." So saying, the man plunked his last box of Sasuke's clothes down inside the apartment, before turning around and leaving with a wave of his hand.

"Real emotional, that one." The landlady shook her head, handing over the apartment key. "Alright, we've got all of the forms signed. I'll leave you to unpack. Oh, and Miss?" Sasuke had just turned to enter the apartment. "You look pretty young. I don't want to scare you or anything, but watch out for your neighbors. They're nice enough… Just a little different." She turned on her heel and left.

_Great, just what I need, _Sasuke thought, entering his new apartment and closing the door. Still, he couldn't help but smile slightly, feeling a sense of elevation at the empty expanse of room before him.

_This is mine._

It was the first thing that Sasuke could really call his own. _His _paychecks were what paid for this place, after a couple months' steady pay. Sure, this was also the first time he would be living in a place alone, but he was sure that he could handle it. Living alone was what he would have to get used to, anyway, seeing as his family was gone. He had to find a way to get rid of these weak fears of being alone, to grow strong, and to become the perfect avenger. In the meantime, he started unpacking.

It wasn't much, really- just the clothes that Kakashi and Guy had given him, along with a couple of essentials that he had picked up himself. Kakashi had donated a chest of drawers and a mattress to the Sasuke cause, while Guy, excited to help as always, had been more than willing to get Sasuke a set of plates and silverware. He could have done without the excessive amount of flowers on everything, but apart from that, he was quite grateful to the two men for their help.

Once he had unpacked these items, Sasuke then began to walk around the apartment. It was decently sized for his price range, with a living room area, a kitchen-dining room set-up, some closets, a modest bedroom, and a bathroom. He didn't need much room for himself, after all.

It wasn't that he hadn't appreciated being able to live in Kakashi's apartment. It was definitely easier than what it was going to be like living on his own. However, with his new life and job, he felt like he needed his own place as well. It was what he had been planning to do in the first place, after all, back when he was on the train with his sister, Hanae. Coming to the bathroom, he stopped, musing.

_I need toilet paper._

Now that he thought about it, it might take a bit more than just stubbornness to live independently. He walked off to his bag of supplies, looking for a scrap bit of paper to start writing a grocery list.

* * *

"Whop! Hold on there, un!"

Sasuke peered around his bulging paper grocery bags, startled. He had just come back from the grocery store around the corner, and he felt like his arms were about to fall off. He couldn't see around the paper bags in his hands, which was why he had run smack-dab into some poor sucker while walking out of the elevator on his third floor. For a moment, he wondered if he had gotten the voice right, because he could have sworn that it was a man's when he heard it. Then he realized that it _was _a guy standing before him.

"I'm so sorry," he murmured demurely, trying to keep up his façade, when really he just wanted to raise an eyebrow at the man's bright blond hair, thick eyeliner, and fishnet undershirt.

"Hey, you look new, un!" The man's eyes grew bright underneath his black makeup. Sasuke felt a single shiver of dread run down his spine. "Here, let me help you there. Can't let a pretty young lady exert herself, can I?" Without any acknowledgement from Sasuke, he took the bag from the raven and gave him a wide smirk. "Which one's your room?"

This time, Sasuke did unleash his Uchiha eyebrow quirk. "Cute. Where'd you learn that trick, assaulting random girls in the hallway and tricking them into letting you into their rooms?" In response, the blonde laughed, showing off a set of sharp, white teeth.

"Can't a fella just be nice once in a while without an ulterior motive?" He removed one of his hands from the bags, situating them so that they were supported by his chest, and stuck out his hand in front of Sasuke. "Diedara, 3-F. Nice to make your acquaintance."

Sasuke looked quizzically at the hand for a moment, not sure if he should take it or not. _Oh, what the hell. _"Satou Suki, 3-H."

Diedara grinned. "Suki, huh? And we're neighbors, too! Let's hope that you aren't too rough in bed, if you know what I mean. I like my sleep, and the walls are thin in this crappy building, un." He nudged Sasuke in the shoulder, clearly enjoying the faint blush on the raven's cheeks and the angry glare. "Let's get these in your room. I feel like I'm about to lose my arms to these fuckers, un." He led the way to Sasuke's room, waiting as the raven grumpily opened the door.

While they were waiting, another door opened. Sasuke turned to see, with surprise, a familiar head of dirty-blonde hair bound up into various pigtails. Looking into the woman's face, he confirmed that it was in fact Temari, sporting a ripped-up band t-shirt, fishnet undershirt, and cargo pants. Upon seeing Sasuke and Diedara, she let loose a wide grin and a laugh, walking over to the pair.

"I'm impressed, Diedara! Our new neighbor just moved in today, and you're already getting into her apartment?" She smirked at Sasuke's now permanent blush of anger, walking closer.

"You think I'd let this gorgeous babe go?" Diedara was scoffing. "Hey Tem, do you know Suki already?"

"Sure, we work together. She's Naruto's new assistant, remember, the smartass I was telling you about?"

"Vaguely." Diedara entered the room that Sasuke had finally finished opening with a definite tick in the raven's eyebrow. Before entering, Sasuke was stopped by Temari's hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, don't worry about this knucklehead. Get him out of your apartment as soon as you can so he doesn't eat all of your food, but besides that, he's a real softy. We all are." Raising her voice, she called to wherever Diedara currently was in the apartment. "Hey, dude! What do you say about a welcoming party for Suki here?"

"Can't hear you. Wow, you have a lot of girl crap here." Sasuke's eyebrow twitched at the blond's voice from the other end of the apartment, muffled by distance and a wall. "Wh- hey, hey, hey! Whose boxers are these?"

Letting out a hiss of anger, Sasuke bolted to his bedroom, where Diedara was triumphantly holding up a pair of one of Sasuke's boxers. "Give me those!" He growled, yanking them from the blond's hands. He could feel Temari walking up behind them as he began zipping up his suitcase and closing up all of the bags that Diedara had opened. _Really, do these two have no idea what the word 'privacy' means?_

"Aw, Suki's got a boyfriend! I should have known you'd already be taken, un." Diedara pouted, leaning up against the bedroom's wall.

"I do not have a-" Sasuke cut off, glaring and angry that he had been pulled into such an inane situation. Temari raised her eyebrow, while Diedara let out a surprised laugh.

"So what are these for, then?" Sasuke realized he had backed himself up into a corner. Luckily, the blond gave him an out. "Holding onto a pair of your exes, are you? Didn't peg you for the sentimental type, un." He stepped closer, a flirtatious gleam about his eyes. "You know, if it was a hard breakup, I know _just _the thing to help a broken heart…"

"Oh, shut it, Diedara." Temari smacked him over the head, leaning in close to Sasuke as she did so. "Besides," she stage-whispered, "I'm pretty sure he plays for the other team anyway…"

Diedara let out a wounded gasp. "Temari, stop spreading dirty, unfounded rumors!" He nudged Sasuke again. "Anyways, Suki can figure out on her own the next time I bring a date around my apartment." Diedara snarkily smirked at Sasuke, making the raven want to bang his head into the wall.

_What have I gotten myself into?_

Temari and Diedara continued their conversation over Sasuke's head. "So, what do you think about a floor party? You know, to welcome Suki here and shit."

"You know I'm always up for a party, Tem, even if it's with a bunch of weirdos like you guys." Diedara ruffled, or tried to ruffle, Temari's hair. "Let me go ask the others. I'll round them up for tonight." He gave an obnoxious wave to Sasuke. "See you later, Suki! Keep on being sexy!" He rushed out of the apartment, leaving a disgruntled raven and an amused Temari in his wake.

"I'd better be off. I do actually have something to do, unlike Diedara." She clapped him on the shoulder, smiling. "Welcome to our floor. Stop by my apartment, 3-D, tonight, so you can meet all the other crazies." Still smiling, she gave a backwards wave and followed Diedara in showing herself out of Sasuke's room. He listened for the sound of his door closing before looking around the bedroom, making sure that none of his possessions were missing. _One thing's for sure, _he thought grumpily, walking back out to his kitchen where the paper grocery bags had been thrown, _I'll need to keep my doors locked in this apartment at all times. _He peered into the bags, before letting out a snarl.

"He ate my roast beef!"

* * *

At 7 o'clock that night Sasuke, rather reluctantly, knocked on the door to 3-D. He felt like not going; however, he ended up walking down the hallway to Temari's room for a couple of reasons. 1, it was quite possible that one or both of the two new neighbors would come to his apartment, knock down the door, and drag him to the party. 2, he needed to yell at Diedara about the roast beef. And 3… well, he did need to meet his neighbors at some point and time, and the ones that he had met already today, while annoying, didn't seem too bad. It would be better to have a friend while meeting his other neighbors than not.

The door opened to reveal a smiling Temari. "I wondered when you'd be around. Come on in!" She beckoned him forward, closing the door behind him. It was dimly lit inside, but clean; he could hear laughter from the living room.

Walking down the hallway, he was soon assaulted by Diedara's loud voice. "Oi, Temari, was that Suki? You guys, you'll never guess what kind of babe we got on our floor- oh, hey, Suki!" Sasuke raised his eyebrow, rounding the wall to the living room. The first face he saw was Diedara's, bright and obnoxious even in the low lighting. He got to his feet immediately, bounding over to greet Sasuke, who was currently checking out the rest of the cast.

Closest to him was a woman in her early twenties, dark chestnut hair trapped into two buns on the side of her head. She was leaning against the living room wall, and when he entered the room she turned to give him a friendly smile. As it turned out, she was probably the most normal person in the room.

Next to her, sitting on the couch, was someone that Sasuke first believed to be Guy. With a shock, he quickly recognized the bowl shaped haircut, the green outfit, and large, bushy eyebrows. However, when the man jumped to his feet in much the same manner as Guy, he could tell from his face that this doppelganger was some fifteen years younger than the man that he knew and dreaded. How anyone could pull off such an exact replica of the man's entire persona, he hadn't the slightest clue.

"Hello, youthful female! My name is Rock Lee!" The man pumped Sasuke's arm up and down, nearly tearing the limb from its socket. "It is a pleasure to meet a new member of our glorious village of youth~!"

Sasuke sighed. He really wasn't going to be given any luck in his new neighbors. "Nice to meet you." He smiled demurely. The others remained seated, although they had all turned to give him their attention. "Ahem. Um, I'm Suki. It's nice to meet you all."

"I'm glad you could join our floor." A thirty-something man with chestnut hair and a scar across his face greeted him with warm eyes. "My name's Iruka." He half-stood to give Sasuke's hand a shake.

"I'm Tenten, nice to meet you." The brown-haired woman from before shook his hand as well. She turned, motioning to the others still sitting. "I'll introduce the others to you. This is Nagato, Konan, and Yahiko-" she motioned to a closly-knit clump of companions sitting on the couch- "and Gaara." She pointed to a sullen red-head leaning against the wall, easily the darkest presence in the room. The three on the couch each nodded, the woman smiling, the blond grinning, while the auburn-haired one simply took him in. Gaara said nothing. Sasuke wasn't sure what to make of the batch; as a rule, he usually ended up getting along the best with the quieter types, but he didn't know if he could get used to the two red-heads.

The louder ones, however, dominated most of the conversation for the night, allowing for Sasuke to simply watch and observe the people that he was now going to live next to. Strangely enough, the idea was not as disturbing as he had first believed: Tenten was sweet but insane, Iruka hilariously embarrassed about just about anything, Diedara a madman that never settled down long enough to let anything get to him. Even the ones who hardly participated grew on him, in the odd way that simply being around someone can happen. He caught glimpses of a smile once or twice on Gaara's lips, and the three on the couch were quick to loosen up, although they were all strangely protective of each other. When he excused himself for the night, not completely feigning exhaustion from moving, each one said goodbye. It left him with a strange, glowing feeling in his stomach, which kept with him even as he drifted off to sleep.


	18. Chapter XVII

**Hello everyone! It made me so excited to see how many new people have alerted this story! Sadly, I'm going to be on vacation next week, and I will most likely not be able to put one out on the road. To make it up, I promise to put out two chapters the week after next. :) Hope you enjoy the next chapter!**

* * *

Chapter XVII

Naruto blew a piece of hair out of his eyes, glaring at his employee before him. "Suki, please. I think we've done enough preening."

The raven returned his glare. "Do you know how sad it is that a fully-grown man does not know how to prepare himself for a meeting, especially a man that happens to be the head of a company? Here, let me _get that-" _she growled something under her breath as she ripped the tie from his fingers, winding it expertly around itself into a knot.

"I'm impressed, Suki. I give myself up to your capable hands." He threw up his hands in defeat, laughing. "Where did you learn how to tie a tie, anyway? Do you have a brother you have to take care of as well?"

She paused in her winding, eyes still focused on the knot. "I have a brother, yes," she said, "but not one who needs my help." Naruto was surprised to see something dark stir in the depths of her eyes, and noticed once again the deep red circles around her iris. She was quick to adjust, however, and brusquely finished his tie before turning to his desk.

"Do we have everything for this meeting? There isn't something you're going to spring on me last minute, are you?" She began shuffling through the papers on his desk, eyes scanning over the paperwork worriedly. Her eyes were really one of the only ways you could tell what she was thinking, Naruto had noticed. Everything else about her was stoic besides her eyes. Walking slowly, so as to not startle her, he crept up quietly behind her before giving her a hug. She stiffened, and he could almost feel her glare.

"What are you doing, dobe?"

"I just wanted to say how amazing you are." He smiled, bringing his face up to rest his chin on her shoulder. "I would be completely lost without you."

"Yeah, well." She disentangled herself from his hug, rolling her eyes. "It _is _my job."

"Hey, don't get too worried about this thing, okay?"

"Why would I be worried?" She gave him a questioning raised eyebrow. "It's not me with my ass on the line. I'm just going to be writing notes."

"I know that's it's one of your first encounters with the business world." He put a hand on Suki's shoulder, giving her a supportive smile. She seemed uncomfortable, quickly shrugging off his hand. He sighed.

"You aren't really the touchy-feely type, are you?"

"Not even in the best of circumstances." She gave him a rare smile. "Come on, we're going to be late."

* * *

It was dark by the time that Naruto got home. He thought about all of the planning that Suki had forced him to do while he opened the door, smiling grudgingly. As much as it pained him to do it, it really was great to have a secretary that forced him to get some work done. He was entirely serious when he told her today that he'd be lost without her. Already, she was a necessary element in his life.

He was greeted by darkness within his apartment. He paused, gazing into the shadows, his arms falling to his sides. The entryway was just as empty as he remembered it. He walked inside, softly letting out a sigh, before flicking the light switch and heading over to the kitchen.

After setting a pot of ramen on the stove to boil, Naruto leaned over the kitchen counter, looking into the depths of the house. "Kyuubi!" He waited for a moment, before turning and going back to the ramen, taking off his shoes as he did and throwing them towards the front door.

It wasn't until he was pouring the ramen into a bowl that he felt the familiar furry body against his leg. Looking down, he smiled at the orange tom beneath him, who was staring up at him with a mixture of indifference and hunger. Naruto chuckled, ruffling the fur on the cat's head.

"How was your day, Kyuubi? Did you miss me? Let me guess, you spent the whole day sleeping." He laughed as the cat completely ignored him and walked over to food dish, meowling loudly. "I get it, I get it. I'm nothing more than a food supplier." He opened up a can of food, smiling at the way that the sound of the can opener drove Kyuubi crazy. The cat's ringed eyes almost looked accusing as he went through the process of preparing the food. Finally, he emptied the can into the food bowl, and Kyuubi went up on his hind legs to rub against Naruto's face in pleasure before digging in to the food.

Naruto smiled, rubbing Kyuubi's back. Reaching up, he grasped his bowl of steaming ramen, pulling it with him as he sat down on the floor besides the orange cat. They ate together in relative silence, Naruto slurping up his ramen and thinking. When Kyuubi was done, he jumped onto Naruto's stomach and promptly fell asleep.

The blond looked around at what he could see of the house. It was still mostly dark. Looking down at Kyuubi, Naruto smiled softly at the cat. He leaned against the counter behind him, putting the ramen bowl aside and looking at the ceiling. Everything was white and empty. Slowly, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

* * *

Sasuke woke up to a hazy stream of sunlight falling through his window. He stretched, feeling the happiness of not having somewhere to be. It was Saturday, and the first one that he didn't have anything that specifically had to be done.

Feeling refreshed and motivated, Sasuke decided to risk it and dressed in running clothes. He had gone out running a couple of times before, hoping that no one recognized him without his women's clothing. Even though he had gone out before, however, he still peered out into his hallway before exiting his room, heart racing.

Unluckily, he forgot to watch for the elevator. He was heading towards the stairs when he heard a familiar voice coming from the direction of the elevator, shouting his name. He sped up, walking swiftly towards the stairwell, but before he reached it he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning around in dismay, he saw the all-too happy face of Diedara peering into his own.

"Suki! I thought I saw you there-" He stopped, startled, looking at Sasuke's hair. Sasuke felt a wave of dread wash over his system. _I can't believe it. Have I been found out by an idiot like Diedara?_

The blonde's face lit up. "Suki didn't tell me she had a brother! How you doing!" He stuck his hand out. "My name's Diedara, I'm Suki's next door neighbor, un!"

Sasuke stared at him, hardly believing his luck. Of all of the people he could have run into, he had the chance to run into someone who would believe something like this right off the bat. Then again, after he thought about it, made a hell of a lot more sense than his actual situation.

"A pleasure," he said cooly, taking Diedara's hand. He didn't want the blond to become too friendly, making this situation even more awkward than it already was. "I'm sorry to be rude, but I was just heading out for a morning jog." He smiled. "It was nice to meet one of Suki's neighbors, though."

"W-wait! Hold on, un!" Sasuke turned away, looking at his iPod and starting the music to make it look like he really wanted to get away. "How long are you staying? Suki hasn't told me anything about you!"

"Ask my sister," Sasuke called without turning around. He quickly entered the stairwell, feeling a little bad for pushing off Diedara in that manner. All was forgotten, however, when he came out front and began to jog, at least feeling his tense muscles loosen and stretch. He smiled to himself, speeding into an easy stride.

He began a circuit of the neighborhood. About a half mile down from his apartment complex was a modest park, damp and cool in the early morning air. He lapped this several times, feeling his heart pound and the sweat drip from his brow. It felt so incredibly _good_ to be male again, never having to worry about how low his voice was or how he was holding himself. As he entered under an overhang of trees, he slowed to a mild walk, and then picked back up again to finish the circuit of the park before exiting and returning home.

It was on the way home that disaster struck. Sasuke was well into his workout, in the zone and feeling every inch of his being with every stride. He was so focused on the adrenaline thrill of the run that he hadn't been paying attention to his fellow runners, but he was observant enough to notice when one was coming up beside him. He glanced to the side, and flinched in shock, recognizing the man's golden spikes, slicked with sweat. _No way._ He quickly shielded his face and turned away, panic coursing through his veins. If Naruto saw him like _this…_

The man in question, meanwhile, appeared to be smiling, by what Sasuke could make out from his averted gaze. "Hi, how are you doing," he said conversationally, or as conversationally as he could while jogging. "I haven't seen you running around here before. Are you new?"

With horror, Sasuke realized that his boss might be trying to start up a conversation with him. He made the mistake of looking over to see if his hypothesis was correct. It was a mistake for two reasons: one, Naruto now caught a glimpse of his face, although how much Sasuke couldn't be sure because he swiftly turned from him again; two, Sasuke had now caught a glimpse of his _boss_, and it was clear that doing so would not help his situation in the least. A sweaty, gorgeous, flirting Naruto was not something that he had ever planned on seeing.

""U-uh…" He cursed the blond, hating that he seemed to be the only man who was ever able to catch the Uchiha off guard. Frantically, he stuffed his hands in his pockets, looking for something, _anything_, to get him out of this situation. His palms closed around the cylinder that he had jokingly thrown in his pocket as he left.

"I don't mean to be forward or anything, but- Jesus FUCK!" Sasuke let out a silent prayer as, with panic shooting through his already drained system, he pulled the pepper spray out of his pocket and sprayed a healthy dosage in his boss's face. Using the last of his energy, he bolted down the sidewalk, listening to the blond's groans of pain in horror as he sprinted to his apartment and safety.

Needless to say, Sasuke couldn't quite look Naruto in the face when he saw him again Monday.


	19. Chapter XVIII

Chapter XVIII

"I'm booored."

Tsunade looked up, eyebrows arching. "Jiraiya, really. Are you expecting me to get up and entertain you? I'm tired of haranguing you about your manuscript. You're a big boy now." She turned away, thumbing through the calendar on her desk. Jiraiya pouted, slumping further onto the wood. Even his thick white hair slumped. Tsunade refused to acknowledge him. It was a quiet Tuesday morning, and it didn't surprise her that Jiraiya, possessing the attention span of a five year old, would find such an environment less than entertaining.

"Where's that nephew of mine? I haven't seen him in a while. Usually he's picking me clean of information about Neji by this time in the week." Jiraiya checked his nails, watching to see Tsunade perk up at the mention of Naruto. Really, it wasn't very hard to get her interested in something, if you knew which buttons to push. And Jiraiya knew just how much the idiotic blond meant to her. She sighed.

"Maybe he's given up?" She suggested hopefully, still shifting through her calendar. Jiraiya gave a snort.

"Yeah, and hell has frozen over. When that nut finds something he wants, he latches on and never lets go." He pushes his tongue to the inside of his cheek. "Maybe he's contracted some deadly disease and can't get up."

"_Or_ he could be working, Jiraiya. It _is _a Tuesday morning, and he's kind of the president of a major company." She looked pointedly at the man before her. "He's not a child anymore. And neither are you. Your manuscript…?"

Jiraiya waved the notion away with a flick of his hand. "Not enough research material. I'm not in the proper groove." She sniffed. "Hey! You don't know what it's like, feeling the pressure of coming up with a new, exciting, creative novel whenever your publisher feels like it. I can't do anything in this mood."

"And, pray tell me," Tsunade said, typing up an email on her computer, "what would get you out of your mood and into the right one?"

"I don't know. Something fun. Something mischievous." He grinned snarkily, which was completely missed by Tsuande, who was still looking at her computer screen. He tapped her on the shoulder. "And I think," he said, pushing her chin up to look over her desk, "I know what to do."

Rock Lee was making his daily rounds around the office, seeming to float instead of actually walk on the gray office carpet. Just as lively as ever, he was decked out in his outfit of green, paying no attention to the dress code that applied to everyone except, seemingly, him. Although there wasn't a mean bone in the man's body, it was still Jiraiya and Tsunade's favorite activity to make his life a living hell whenever possible.

"Yes, that would certainly do it," Tsunade said. "What are you thinking?"

"I don't know yet. It has to be perfect, as always." Jiraiya rested his chin in his hands, thinking. "What usually gets him worked up?"

"Neji, of course," Tsunade said, going back to her work but continuing to converse with her friend. "I swear, that is the weirdest relationship I've ever seen. I don't know how Neji puts up with that man." Even though, as far as she knew, Lee didn't think of Neji in a romantic way, he did have a strange attachment to the editor. It bordered on stalking, in her opinion, but since Lee hadn't been kicked out yet, she figured that Neji had it under control, or found some pleasure in having someone so close to him. Either that, or he just felt that the bowl-headed moron was beneath him.

"Neji would work. He's been acting weird lately." It was true; Tsuande had definitely noticed a difference in the man's behavior. Always a loner, Neji had become even more secluded, except for the times when he could be found staring out of windows, face lax, eyes clouded. Tsuande couldn't say that she was really all that interested about her boss's habits, but it was certainly curious.

Tsuande was startled out of her musings by an exclamation from Jiraiya. "I got it! We can say that Neji's acting weird _because of_ Lee!" He clapped his hands together, looking for the life of him like the pervy old man that he was. "We could probably get him to believe that Neji is yearning for his presence, or some other such nonsense like that!"

"Hold on." Tsunade grabbed Jiraiya's arm. "You don't think that's it, do you?"

"What, that Neji is yearning for Rock Lee's presence?"

"No, no, you idiot. Just… That Neji is _yearning _for something. Someone." Not that she thought that her boss was a rock. It was just a little hard to imagine him infatuated with someone. In all of the years that she had known him, Tsunade had never even seen him mildly attracted to someone else.

"No way. Who could it be? Certainly not Naruto."

"Definitely not." She bit her lip. This would require further musings, but at a different time. "Anyways, we'd better start on your trick. _Just_ so that you can get in your _groove_, or whatever you called it." She scoffed, and he returned it with a devilish grin.

"What's this?" Since Rock Lee was always louder than anyone else in the building, Tsunade and Jiraiya had no problems hearing him at his desk. "An email from Neji? What god above has blessed me with this unbelievable gift?"

It was easy for Tsunade to get a hold of Neji's personal email. The real fun came in crafting the fake email, mostly created by a grinning Jiraiya. Sneakily (or as sneakily as you can in a crowded office), they crept over to his office, peering around the wall to get a better look at his face. His eyes were as wide as dinner plates, and he eagerly clicked on the icon.

" 'To my dearest friend Rock Lee…" Stop, my racing heart! 'I wish that I could build up the courage to tell you how deeply I honor our bond in person. However, I ask that you forgive me, and perhaps to show me your own loyalty to our friendship.' Oh, Neji, my greatest friend and heartfelt rival! Have I not shown you yet how much your friendship means to me? I will increase my efforts tenfold!" While he was saying this, Jiraiya and Tsunade could barely keep back their laughter, silently dying against the wall, tears running down their cheeks. Rock Lee continued.

"'I ask you, therefore, to wear a manifestation of your feelings tomorrow. If you truly care about our relationship, show me so by replacing your leg bands with yellow stockings, my favorite color. Be sure to parade them where everyone can see them. For an added touch, you can bring daisies, my favorite flower, to work.

I hope that you will complete the tasks that I have given you. Only by doing this will you show me that you truly care about me. Sincerely yours, Neji.'"

Tsunade and Jiraiya held their breath. There was a period of silence in Lee's office. Tsunade turned to Jiraiya, eyebrows furrowing in doubt. She did admit, it had been a bit much, a fair bit out of character for Neji. Would he fall for it?

It took her a few moments to hear the soft sobs emanating from the office. Rock Lee was crying. "Oh, my dear, dear friend! How it pains me that you have not been able to tell me your wishes in person! Of course I will do everything you ask, and more! That way, you will never have any doubt of my friendship ever again!" So saying, he rushed out of the office, blubbering, and ran to the bathroom.

Behind him, Tsunade and Jiraiya exchanged an ecstatic smile. Tomorrow was going to be a very interesting day.

* * *

**Hey everyone! Hope you enjoyed this silly chapter. (I apologize for the length! They will be longer in the future, I swear.) Thank you everyone who has alerted this story. Until next week, where we see more Hinata, Kiba, and Kakashi! (And, of course, some Naruto and Sasuke goodness as well. Hold tight, my munchkins!)**


	20. Chapter XIX

Chapter XIX

"Sooo, how are your neighbors?"

Sasuke removed his sunglasses, glancing over at Kakashi, who was sitting on the park bench beside him. Kakashi had come over for a surprise visit, demanding details on everything in Sasuke's life like some kind of teen girl. Forced to comply, Sasuke had reluctantly agreed to talk it out over deli sandwiches in the park. He took another bite, wondering if the food was worth the verbal interrogation he had gotten for the past forty five minutes.

"They're okay, I guess. Pretty weird." Understatement of the century. He had seen all of his neighbors at least once, seeing as they were always out in the hallway and underfoot. Some of them were okay, like Temari and Iruka. But some of them….

"Weird how?" Kakashi's eyebrow quirked, and he took another bite out of his tuna sub. Sasuke rolled his eyes. It was as if Sasuke's life was the most interesting thing that he had heard about all week.

"Well, one of them has a poodle. Which wouldn't be that weird, except that he wears black eyeliner."

"The poodle?"

"No, the neighbor!"

"Right, right."

"Anyways, he was taking him out for a walk just as I was returning, and I commented on the dog's fur, because it was shaped all weird. And he mutters something like-" he takes a bite of his sandwich- " 'fucking Diedara, see how he likes being trimmed with scissors' and then walks away. It was the weirdest thing." He knew that he was spraying crumbs a little, but he knew Kakashi wouldn't mind. He could have sworn that he could see Kakashi's smile beneath the mask.

"Is that so? Interesting, indeed. And how about work?"

His work. Oh yes, the place where all hell broke loose at least five times a day. Sasuke was surprised that he hadn't torn his wig off by now in a fit of rage, thrown it on the floor, and stalked out of the building, never to be seen again. His boss was probably the most infuriating person he had ever met, and he told Kakashi so.

"Naruto? Yes, he has his moments. I knew you would get to like him." Sasuke turned his head, staring into Kakashi's face to see if he was having a mild psychotic break from reality. When it didn't appear so, he huffed dismissively.

"I don't _like _him at all. He's my biggest pain in the ass at the moment, and… and…. Goddammit, Kakashi, he doesn't even understand how a fax machine works! How is that even possible?!"

"Naruto knows how to do a lot of other things, though." Kakashi leaned back again, smiling under his mask. "He's stupid at times, I admit. But when it really counts, he's surprisingly dependable." He turned to Sasuke, eyes twinkling. "I wouldn't give up on him just yet."

* * *

One afternoon at work, Sasuke looked up from his desk to see Kiba hovering, looking surprisingly hesitant. Surprisingly so, because Sasuke had never seen the man hesitate about a single thing before now. He set his glasses down, eyebrows furrowing.

"Something wrong, Kiba?"

Kiba jumped, startled. "Um, yeah, Suki? I was wondering if you could… help me with something."

Sasuke pursed his lips. "Yes, if I can, what is it?"

"Well… I think you can help me. You're a girl, right? You'll be able to figure out girl things?"

Well, that was a loaded question. Sasuke bit his lip, furrowing his eyebrows even more. "It would appear so."

"See, I was hoping…" Kiba danced back and forth on his feet, clearly agitated. "Well, I was hoping that you'd be able to tell me what girls like. Like, what to make them like you, or whatever."

"That's a tough question, since it differs from girl to girl." Even as a guy, Sasuke knew that. He leaned back in his chair a ways. "You'd have to know her pretty well to tell what really makes her happy."

"Yeah, okay. I get that, I guess. But… Argh, it's just so hard! Your minds don't work the same way as a guy's!" He raked a hand through his hair. Sasuke stared at his face, contemplating. He was guessing that Kiba really liked the girl he was talking about, or else he wouldn't be as upset as he was. He cocked his head to the side.

"Do I know this woman?" To answer his hypothesis, Kiba turned a bright scarlet, and began staring at his shoes.

"I… well, maybe…"

Sasuke had a pretty good idea now of who he was talking about. He had caught glances of Kiba staring at Hinata, the Hyuuga's cousin, once or twice. It hadn't really taken much to put two and two together, once he had actually put the effort into solving the puzzle.

"Okay, I'll try to help you as much as I can, although I can tell you now that I am not going to be the best advisor here." No shit. He leaned over his desk again, steepling his fingers. "I suggest that you be nice to her. Not-" he held up a finger as Kiba tried to protest- "not saying that you haven't been so far. But it's important to show her that she's different than everyone else. That she's special." He stopped, feeling incredibly foolish. What was he doing, trying to give advice on how to get a woman? It wasn't as if he had had much experience.

Kiba, however, seemed delighted beyond words at what Sasuke had said. "Wow, it all makes so much more sense now! I could do that…" He stared off into the distance, eyes excited, before quickly reaching over the desk and gripping Sasuke's hands in his. "Thank you Suki! You've been a wonderful help!" With that he dashed off to the break room. Sasuke stared after him for a moment before returned to his work. It wasn't worth the pondering to try to figure out what was to happen next.

* * *

Sasuke had not been having the best day even before Naruto had asked him to come in to his office to help him settle an error in his spreadsheets. Once inside, Sasuke couldn't keep himself from scowling, crossing his arms and glaring at the blond head of hair that bounced around like an absurd patch of yellow grass.

"Yes, can I help you?"

Naruto seemed to completely ignore the peeved tone in Sasuke's voice. "I was wondering if I could use you for a moment. It won't take long." He smiled, and Sasuke frowned, leaning up against the wall and away from the man in front of him.

"Why? Do you think I have nothing better to do with my time?" It was like this every time he was in the presence of the blond imbecile; something about him made Sasuke want to throw a punch at his face, and made him act differently than he did with anyone else, which bothered him to no end.

Naruto glanced up, face confused. Sasuke would have felt bad if it wasn't for the fact that he was currently trying to wage war against the guy.

"Is something wrong, Suki?"

"No, nothing's wrong. I simply need to return to my work." He shoved off from the wall, heading towards the door. He was stopped by a hand reaching for his elbow, which he slapped away without even thinking. He turned to see Naruto staring at him, bewildered.

"I… I wasn't going to touch, you or anything. God!" He looked completely shaken. "Why did you push my hand away?"

"Because I didn't want you to touch me, got it, dobe?" Sasuke was seething, because there was something uncomfortable churning in his stomach. In return to his retort, Naruto's face grew dark.

"And why not? Are you too high and mighty to be touched? Is there something about you that sets you apart from anyone else? Touching is a sign of compassion, teme!"

Sasuke jerked away from him, gritting his teeth. He stared Naruto in the eyes, trying to somehow get the upper hand in this situation. "We're not all touchy-feely, Mr. Uzumaki." He challenged the blond to argue, glaring at him full in the face. For a few moments, there was utter silence in the closed office room. Then, Naruto lowered his head a fraction, loosening up the muscles in his face. Then he said something that Sasuke wasn't expecting.

"Are you afraid of being friends?" It was very soft, dulling Naruto's usually yelling voice to a warm purr. His face was soft, and after a moment, he shook his head. "Never mind, forget I asked. You can go."

Stiffly, Sasuke exited the room. He registered that he had technically won in this situation, but Naruto's were still plaguing his mind, so it didn't feel like much of a victory to him.

* * *

**Hello everyone! First of all, I'm so sorry for not posting last week! I got a little caught up and it was the last day before school, so I apologize. To make it up to you, I will (hopefully) be posting two chapters next week! **


	21. Chapter XX

Chapter XX

* * *

June came, and Sasuke found himself, to his surprise, without a single case of manslaughter or forced detention into a mental facility. In fact, if he let himself believe it, his coworkers had begun to grow on him. They weren't the sure-footed, focused coworkers that he had planned to be working with: Shikamaru, while a certified genius, spent the majority of his day staring out of his window; Ino spent more time filing her nails and yakking with her friends on the phone than Sasuke would have allowed; and Kiba had become almost useless, what with his constant flirtations with Hinata. He was pretty sure that they were dating now, although Sasuke's surefire intuition kind of dried up when it came to relationships. However, much like how a tree will grow around an obstruction, Sasuke was able to take these impediments in stride, and even found himself chuckling with one of Temari's cracks or smiling at Naruto's silly pranks.

However, a request/demand that he come with the female workers of the office on a weekend shopping trip did not fall on welcome ears. Getting along with them was one thing, but spending his free time with them was another. Not that he had many other outlets for social connection, but such a situation had a rather large chance of exposing his disguise. Besides this, women had an annoying tendency of getting distracted by racks of jewelry and piles of scarves, discarding their original purpose for whimsical window-shopping.

All of these internal complains did no good; Saturday morning found him rudely awakened by a pounding at his door. Sleepily walking out to his kitchen, he could hear Temari's gruff yell through the door that he had better be out in the hallway in the next ten minutes or else risk the utter demise of his door. Exiting his apartment some time later, he saw Ino and Hinata already waiting, coffee cups in hand. He sighed. He felt like he would need more than coffee to get through this outing.

* * *

The good thing about shopping with women was that they knew where to look for clothes, a talent that Sasuke lacked. He did in fact need new outfits, and a new pair of shoes, preferably without a heel. If he was lucky, he would be able to rid himself of those horrible devices for good.

In the meantime, he was given the pleasure of listening to the women's critiques in his choice of clothing. "Really, Suki, do you even _want _to look attractive? That outfit would do less for you than a burlap sack."

"Well maybe some of us don't want to look like we're begging to be noticed by the opposite sex," he growled back. Temari chuckled. Ino looked pissed.

"H-Here, Suki. Maybe this will look good on you." Hinata held up a blue blouse and a pair of dress pants.

"That would look nice. Really, Suki, you should work on showing off your good features. Bring out your eyes- they're unique. And accentuate your long legs. Not much in the chest department-" she touched the sides of Sasuke's fake bra, eliciting a surprised blush from him, "but you can work around that. They make shirts for all sizes, you know. You don't have to wear a bedsheet."

He nodded, too embarrassed and peeved to do anything else.

He was able to go another half hour or so before disaster struck. Together, they had picked out a fair amount of outfits for him, and he was even able to snag a pair of comfortable-looking shoes with only the mildest sniffs from Ino. However, he was just entering his dressing room stall (dismissing the instinctual discomfort of entering on the woman's side) and closing the door when misfortune appeared in the form of a foot blocking the door's path. Temari weaseled her way into the room, carrying her own stack of clothes to try on.

"'Scuse me, Suki, I just have a couple of shirts to try on. You don't mind if we share a room, do you?"

Sasuke was at a loss as to what to do. Could he ask her to leave, tell her that he was extremely uncomfortable in this kind of situation? He doubted that that would have any kind of effect on her. Should he demand that she leave? Somehow, he found that calling mall security on your coworker wouldn't really help the work atmosphere.

There were a few moments of awkward silence. Then, Temari chuckled softly. "Oh, the look on your face. Don't worry, I won't try tochange with you. I know that you're a guy."

Panic overtook Sasuke. She knew? For how long? Had she told anyone? He glanced at the door, trying to remember the best way out of the shopping mall. He didn't know the train schedule off-hand. He would have to disappear from the city, find somewhere else to stay….

"Hey look, relax. I'm not going to do anything with that information, it's safe with me. I was just curious is all." She shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. "So I did some snooping. You're one of the Uchiha siblings, right? The ones with the red eyes, the kids who are involved with that who mess with their brother? You're Sasuke."

After a moment's pause, Sasuke straightened up to his full height, shaking off his woman's persona and shifting his weight to a man's stance. "That's correct. So you know about my situation."

"Oh yes, quite interesting. I'm confused as to why you chose to hide as a girl, though. Wouldn't you simply be identified as your twin sister instead?"

He shifted uncomfortably. His guise didn't make too much sense to him either. "Hiding as a girl was what I deemed as easiest," he replied, getting a raised eyebrow from Temari.

"Well, whatever. Don't worry, I'm not going to do anything with the info. Shikamaru and I were just curious."

"Wait, Shikamaru knows too? Does the whole office know?"

"No, no, it's just Shik and I. You really think that our lovable dumb blond of a boss would catch on to something like that? No, and I won't tell them either. But I would watch out, your guise is slipping." She chuckled. "Pretty soon our coworkers will start wondering why the new girl has such a deep voice, and how big of a tomboy she really is."

Sasuke twisted his mouth in distaste. It was true, he was probably falling into a more comfortable attitude around everyone now that they weren't making his life a living hell. It was inevitable, really, to slip at some point, especially when there were so many intelligent people who worked around him all of the time. Still, he would put more of an effort into the masquerade; he could never show his true self, not unless he wanted to give away his identity. He felt a pang of regret at this inability to connect with anyone, which he then dismissed as a stomach cramp.

"I'll help you as much as I can." He was brought out of his thoughts by Temari's voice. He looked over to see her features for once shifted into an earnest expression. "Shikamaru will too. We don't want you to have to leave. It must have been difficult to uproot yourself like that."

Sasuke wondered if maybe, just maybe, this discovery of his identity wasn't such a bad thing. Perhaps he could use another friend who knew who he truly was.

* * *

"That's it. I'm officially calling you out on pretending to be looking out for my wellbeing."

"Why on earth do you say that?" Guy didn't even glance towards Sasuke, arranging a rack of clothes against the wall while balancing a photo album in the crook of his arm. They were in Guy's salon, an interesting mix of hair/beauty boutique and photo studio. At one end, tall mirrors placemarked the stalls, hair curlers, straighteners, gels, and accessories dotting the slotted surfaces. At the other end, backgrounds, lights, and reflectors were set up awaiting the next photo session when the shop opened, props set up neatly by the walls. It was quite an operation here, and Sasuke would visit it sometimes simply to people-watch the strange crew that came into Guy's place. However, he was currently quite peeved at what the green-clad man had just requested, and he found none of the charm about the place that he usually did.

"The whole point of my disguise is for secrecy. So why are you asking me to model in some of your photographs? As both a female _and _a male?"

Guy turned around now, slightly pouting. "It is hurtful that you would ever question my intent, Sasuke. I am always looking out for what is best for you. I simply feel that such astounding, aristocratic features should never go to waste. They'll only be sections of you, anyways. No one will recognize you."

"Yeah, but why _both _of me?"

Guy smiled widely. "It may not seem like this to you, but at some point in the future, your situation _will _be cleared up, and you will be able to return to your life. I will never see you again as you are in front of me, but photos will last. I simply want to remember both sides of you, as you are."

Sasuke felt something tight well up in his throat. He ignored it. "I'm right here, you crazy old man. Stop being melodramatic." He did, however, let Guy take the photographs.

* * *

Like most nights, 5 o'çlock found Sasuke still bent over his desk, bored out of his mind yet somehow always seeming crunched for time, making sure that everything was ready for the next morning. Although not all secretarial jobs, he assumed, were this strenuous, there was plenty to accomplish in a day's time when your boss was the head of a major banking company as well as being a huge slack-off.

Uchiha Corps had dealt with power, and Sasuke was allowed to sit in on many key meetings to prepare him for his future role in the company; controlling funds of an international bank, while being something that he had a basic and big-picture idea of, was not a topic that he had perfected in his years of education. Therefore it was with some interest that Sasuke sat in on meetings, taking notes but also learning the intricacies of keeping such a large bank running. Somehow the dobe was able to keep up with all of this, and Sasuke inwardly chuckled whenever he saw a particular expression cross Naruto's face, the one that meant that, while he was calm on the outside, he was inwardly desperately trying to keep in an incredible yawn. If he didn't know first-hand that Naruto was, through some fluke, a genius at what he did, he would have assumed that these meetings would have consisted of a bunch of pranks and snores.

When he next looked up, he was surprised to see that it was nearing 8. He turned in his seat to see that Naruto was also still in the office, but he could see some signs of movement behind the glass door. After a few moments, the door opened, and Naruto exited, yawning. He stopped when he saw Sasuke.

"Staying late again, Suki?" Naruto frowned. Sasuke was always bemused to see how much the blond seemed to care about his workers.

"Just some things I have to finish up. I'll be leaving soon."

"You have to get some rest, Suki. It's not good for your complexion." He sucked in his cheeks. "Hey! I bet you haven't eaten dinner yet, and I'm starving. You wanna come?"

Sasuke looked down at his desk. There were still multiple files open and waiting to be organized. He needed to have some information for Kiba in the morning that he hadn't even begun to look up yet. "Sure, why not."

* * *

Sasuke's eyebrow twitched. He hadn't expected much from this dinner outing, seeing as it was Naruto. However, he hadn't quite guessed the level to which his boss would slum it down on an evening with one of his employees.

He was standing with the blond in front of a ramen stand. Sasuke had never seen such a stand before, but from the complicated journey they took to get this far into the city, he wasn't too surprised. Naruto was grinning ear to ear, breathing deeply to ingest the aroma.

"Ah, this place is amazing. Have you been here before, Suki?"

"No." Sasuke glared at the loud banner overhead. He wasn't exactly expecting a nice restaurant, or anything. Just something… a little nicer.

As they entered the stall, Sasuke tried to mull out why he was getting a little upset. It _was_ Naruto after all, right? And what was he thinking, that he would go out of his way, to take him to a nice meal, like it was some kind of date or something? Naruto was his _boss, _for chrissakes. It was good that he wasn't treating this as something special. Especially since that could prove to endanger his disguise. Wait, but he was dressed as a woman, whom Naruto was not into….

Sasuke had been inwardly mulling this over, and he had distractedly told the man behind the counter that he would have the same thing Naruto was having. It was with shock, then, that he saw the man bring out six bowls of steaming ramen, placing three of them in front of Sasuke.

"Wow, Suki, I didn't know that you liked ramen so much! It's great to see a girl with an appetite like mine!" Naruto then proceeded to slurp down the ramen at an incredible speed, making Sasuke wonder if he had third-degree burns all down his throat.

"Um." Sasuke wasn't usually lost for words, but this took the cake. "I was actually distracted when we ordered, so. I don't think I'll be eating all of this."

"Hm?" Naruto raised his head, noodle strands dangling from his mouth. "Why were you distracted?"

"I… I thought I knew our server." Now that he looked at the man, he did feel like he had met the man at some point and time.

"Oh, you probably do! That's Teuchi, he works as a janitor parttime in the office!"

Sasuke quirked his eyebrow. He remembered the man now- he was the one who let Sasuke in that time that he was "early" to his job. "Did you know him before he was a janitor?"

"Oh, of course. I hired him so that I would have easy access to the ramen. He's part time, so every time he comes in during the day he makes me ramen for lunch." Naruto's grin widened, and Sasuke would have made some disgruntled remark about the noodles sticking out of his mouth if it wasn't for the fact that his smile was so infectious.

"Ramen every day isn't healthy, you know. No wonder you're so fat." He smiled into his ramen as Naruto let out a gasp of pain.

"Suki, I'm hurt! How could you ever insult me like that? After all that I've done for you." He pouted.

"Yeah, working for you has been one big pleasure ride." Sasuke was surprised to find that he was enjoying himself. It turned out that angry banter was an activity he quite enjoyed.

"I bet it has. I bet you go home every day wishing that you could see more of my glorious face. That's why you work so late, isn't it?" Naruto stuck out his tongue. Sasuke hadn't been aware that Naruto had even consciously known of him staying late. He let a small smile creep onto his face.

"Of course. That's the only logical reason- it couldn't be that I have more work to be done in the day than I'm able to do in the time allotted."

"Nope." Naruto slurped up a final noodle before reaching over for Suki's remaining bowls. "Hey! I forgot to mention. We'll be having a ramen day at work. Free ramen, on me. It's more of a publicity thing for Teuchi anyways."

"And you think people will be interested in eating ramen? Even if it's free?"

"Of course- combining free food with delicious noodles? They won't be able to resist." His smile was like the sun. Sasuke was trapped for a moment, believing him. He blinked. The world was mildly going in and out of focus, and he felt sweaty.

Naruto, luckily, didn't notice. Sasuke wondered for a moment if it was because of the food, but then he looked into Naruto's face once more. He blushed and quickly looked away, frowning at an odd sensation in his chest. The blond was happily slurping up the last of his noodles, and Sasuke felt sick- he never did like being caught up with emotions.

* * *

**Hello! I apologize, as always, for the delay. I really don't have any excuse, and I can't make any promises. However, I hope to finish this story up in the near future, preferably over this summer. Hopefully listing this as a concrete goal will give me motivation. Also, an extra-long chapter for you all (sorry that it keeps jumping around).**

**I have the next chapter written out, so expect to see some more of Sasuke and Co. in a few days!**


	22. Chapter XXI

Chapter XXI

Monday morning was interesting, in that Naruto brought his tabby to work for the day. Sasuke had learned not to be surprised at anything that happened in his office anymore; however, he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow when he saw a strikingly orange cat saunter out of his boss's office. For a moment he wondered if Naruto himself had turned into a cat, which in the moment did not seem like such a stretch from reality. Then he came to his senses and, getting up from his chair, began to shoo the animal out of the office.

"Suki! What are you doing to Kyuubi?" Naruto poked his head out. _Of course this is normal for him, _Sasuke thought, looking around at the other workers in the office. As usual, they weren't surprised; Temari opened one of her drawers, extracting a bag of treats and feeding one to the suddenly friendly tabby. Sasuke sat back down.

"How do you know that I'm not allergic to cats?" he muttered grumpily at Naruto. His boss didn't catch it, closing the door and letting the cat- Kyuubi- roam free.

By the time that lunch break came, Sasuke's desk was covered in little orange hairs, and he had to go into the office bathroom to try to find something that could remove the fur from his black pants. He wasn't surprised when a hair somehow found its way into his yogurt.

The cat itself was a bit of a mystery. It had a personality like many cats- it was extremely aloof at times, jumping away from anyone's touch. It seemed interested in Sasuke though, but not in a good way- the cat would wander near his desk, then hiss and spit at Sasuke, as if the fucker had a lifelong grudge against him. Suited him fine, if only the cat didn't persist in covering everything on and around his desk with his fur.

Naruto seemed to adore the cat. When he came out to his office, he immediately got down on the floor and started playing with the tabby, making a complete fool of himself. While this was no different than normal, Sasuke did find it unusual that Naruto connected so completely with the animal. Most of the time, cats were loners, nothing like Naruto, who seemed to soak up energy like a sponge. Still, they seemed oddly similar, strangely tied- maybe there was more to Naruto than met the eye, that he would connect to this grumpy, antisocial animal.

* * *

When Sasuke came home from work that day, he was completely spent. It was such a struggle, always keeping up a façade, always worrying that his mask was faltering. He had looked out for any sign that Temari or Shikamaru had told anyone else in the office about his guise, but as far as he could tell, he was in the clear. As for them, he could definitely see a glint of humor in Temari's eyes when he had to wear a skirt to work when the rest of his clothes were dirty or seemed particularly incapable of acting like a female.

So when he opened his refrigerator and realized that all he had was a bottle of ketchup and a jar of pickles, he decided against changing back into the female persona, deeming such a task impossible after he had just worn the skin for an entire day. He was cautious getting out of the apartment complex, but once he was out on the streets, he felt secure in the masses. It felt nice, being his own self again. Before his flight, he hadn't really liked it when women gave him pleased appraisals; now, it was comforting simply because it meant that he looked like his normal self. Being a girl did nothing for his self-esteem, even if he did get hit on by old men on the subway.

He didn't feel nervous when he said hello to passing shoppers in the supermarket. He was in such a good mood that he allowed for a brief conversation with a man behind him in line. Because his sister would have flayed him if he was anything otherwise, he had always considered himself a believer in female rights; however, there were certain things that women couldn't do, such as talking in a certain manner with a male stranger in line. His head felt lighter, mostly because of the absence of his annoying wig. He brushed his fingers through his hair, taking a pleasure in the feeling of not having to hide.

* * *

The early summer morning was just beginning to warm up when Sasuke headed out for the park. It was strangely nice for the city; the air was surprisingly clean and clear, and he was able to see the clear blue sky graced by the reaching skyscrapers. He wore comfortable pants, tennis shoes and a loose t-shirt, feeling the light wind run through his long hair. He fiddled with the spare change in his pocket, biting his lip. It was Saturday morning, and he usually would have spent it indulging in a comfy day in his pajama pants. But Naruto had offered to show him around the city, and he hadn't refused.

Even though he had been in the city for several months, Sasuke was hopelessly lacking in knowing any of the landmarks, a fact that Naruto picked up on when he was trying to give Sasuke directions on another quest to woo Neji. The logical conclusion for the blond was then to ask Sasuke out on a sightseeing "adventure", the idea of which sent Sasuke's eyebrow skyward. Yet here he was, nervously scanning the park for a familiar head of yellow hair.

Sasuke found him sitting on a park bench, petting a passing dog. Sasuke was stopped again by how eye-catching the man was: he stood out in any crowd, with his blond hair, scratched cheeks, and striking features. He was dressed in blue-black jeans and an orange hoodie to keep off the chill morning air, showing off his lean figure. Sasuke let a small smile cross his face. He saw that bright orange color that decorated so much of what Naruto wore as an unconscious protective layer: it certainly would have kept him from asking for Naruto's number. If he was gay.

Naruto hadn't seen him yet. For some reason, Sasuke was tempted to sneak up behind him and scare him, but then he frowned and realized what a silly idea that was. One, it was completely against his nature. Two, it would mean that there was any form of friendship between them, which there most certainly was not- he was his squalling partner, the enemy against his sanity. And three, dressed as he was, it might look like they were dating, which made Sasuke's stomach twist uncomfortably.

"Hey, dobe." Naruto looked up, smirked.

"Hey, teme." He got up from his bench, brushing invisible dust from his lap. "Took you long enough to get here."

"Unlike some people, I have more than one thing to do on my Saturday mornings." Wrong- he had overslept. "So what do you have planned for today? Hopefully not another ramen restaurant. I can only take in so much sodium in a lifetime."

Naruto stuck out his tongue. "Whatever, teme. Not everyone has an aversion to tasty food. No, you'll like this trip. It's just like the type your relatives would have taken you on when you visited their hometown." He then turned around and, waving for Sasuke to follow him, headed towards his car that Sasuke could see parked in the lot. Sasuke smirked again, but only so that Naruto couldn't see it.


End file.
